My Malaysia: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Viet Nam December 5-8, 2008 Part III

HCMC is a vibrant, eclectic place and presented us with so many photo ops! A few of my favourites are below. Our weekend trip was over before we knew it but we all said we would love to return as there is much more to see and do, especially in the surrounding countryside and on the coast. We've heard that some of the best beaches in SE Asia are in Viet Nam! The food was wonderful: Lemongrass Restaurant (Palace Hotel Saigon 14th floor) the first night, the dinner boat cruise on the second night and a rooftop BBQ at your table (Quan Nuong) on the third night. Fish, meat and veggies were all fresh and beautifully prepared. As always, my favourite is fresh spring rolls in rice paper wrappers!

There's always
time for a nap!

HCMC Opera House
The beautiful Park
Hyatt Hotel behind is
where Pat and I enjoyed
a drink!

Christmas treats
in a bakery

Kathie posing
with the girls
in traditional
dress on the
dinner
cruise

Pat learning
the bamboo
pole dance
on the cruise

Notre Dame
Cathedral
(built 1877-1883)
not unlike many
churches in Quebec
from the
same era.

Wedding pictures
outside the
Cathedral

Street scene-
card sellers
(note the
billboard
above of the
Saigon River)

A rat's nest
of electrical
wires (in German,
Kabelsalat! I learned
this from Andrea
and Monika.)

Street food
chefs and
sellers

Reunification
Palace-the first
Communist tanks
charged through
the gates here on
April 30, 1975 and
the Republic of
Viet Nam fell.

An elegant
and imposing
room in the
Palace.

Another room
used for diplomats.

Our last day was spent touring the above Palace as well as the War Remnants Museum (once known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes but changed to avoid offending visitors from these countries). It is the most popular museum with Western tourists in HCMC.
Having lived through the "American War" (as it is know here), it was gruelling to once again see those famous images caught in Time, Newsweek or on national TV during the 1960-70's. Despite the fact that the exhibits in this museum are one-sided, it definitely drives home the point that all war is brutal and that many of its victims are innocent civilians, some still living locally with their maimed faces or missing limbs. A sobering way to end our weekend to HCMC.

Jumpa lagi...

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

HCMC December 5-8, 2008 Part II

On our second day in HCMC, Ernie rented a van and we drove NW of the city about 30-40 km to the Cu Chi Tunnels, now a place of pilgrimage for Vietnamese school children. We had our own personal guide who took us around the area now open to the public. There are approximately 250 km of tunnels which exist in several layers in the area. They were begun in the 1940's by the Viet Minh during the war against the French. The excavations were mostly used for communications between villages and to evade French army sweeps of the area. Later on, the tunnel network became famous during the 1960's for its role in facilitating the Viet Cong control of a large rural area close to HCMC. At its height, the tunnel system stretched from HCMC to the Cambodian border and included innumerable trap doors, storage facilities, constructed living areas, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centres and kitchens. Our guide took great pride is showing us how the Viet Cong evaded the American army using the other two layers of tunnels for escape, how they set many different types of traps to snare the enemy and how kitchen smoke was exhausted through vents many metres away from the actual cooking site.

Our guide showing
the tiny entrance to
the tunnel and the
camouflaging
used to cover it.

Pat was able to
squeeze into the
same spot!

A nasty trap door
of innocent-looking
grass, which, when
stepped upon, swings
open to land you on
iron spikes.

Nancy conversing
with the VN
mannequins!

Eoin on top
of a US tank.

Our guide with
another method of
torture.

Making fresh spring
roll wrappers (from
rice) on the open
fire.

Rice wrappers drying
in the sun.

Distilling
rice wine-
sake anyone?

Sandals made
from old tires-
still preferred
by the guides
today.

Kathie serving tea
with "Uncle Ho"
looking on inside
a tunnel bunker.

Jumpa lagi...

Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Viet Nam December 5-8, 2008 Part I

We flew Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to HCMC to spend a long weekend at the Renaissance Hotel, right beside the Saigon River, with our Canadian FPG friends in Kuantan, Nancy, Gerry, Terry and Eoin. Our host in HCMC was Ernie who used to work with Pat, Gerry and Terry at P&G in Hamilton. It was a treat to get away from the heat and humidity of Malaysia for a few days and enjoy the pre-Christmas decorations to the north! As a souvenir of our trip, Gerry bought us all the book, Bikes of Burden by Hans Kemp, which shows pictures of the Vietnamese transporting all sorts of interesting things/animals/people on their motorbikes. Below is a sampling of city life with some of my own (possible) additions to the book!