Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - December 2018

Ho Chi Minh City

This is another tale from our cruise around the South China Sea last year, with Ho Chi Minh City being a fair way from the ocean we'd docked in the port city of Phu My this morning and then set off on a long bus ride into the city. Now I’m thinking for 99% of the punters this two hour bus trip was something to be endured, for me though it was a very interesting way to bookend the day. Our bus first had to wind it’s way out of the port before passing through kilometres of industrial areas as it jostled with the trucks servicing the many factories, now that might not be interesting to most people but I’ve grown up around trucks and my whole adult life has been working in industrial sites, so there was a lot for the trainspotter in me to check out. After escaping the industrial area we motored along a freeway through rice paddies and over some huge rivers before heading through the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City into the centre of town, all in all we got a pretty good, warts and all, look at life around Ho Chi Minh and that was before we ever started to tick off the tourist attractions in town.

We docked at the port in Phu My this morning.

Sõng Soài Rap

The drive into Ho Chi Minh City was through a bit of industrial land and some rural farmland.

Eventually though my people watching through the window of the bus came to an end and we arrived at our first stop, the Minh Phuong Lacquer Factory. It seems like these lacquerware pieces (anything from pictures to small jewellery boxes, right up to large furniture sets) are very popular with the tourists. While they don’t really do much for me it was interesting to see the delicate processes that go into making these pieces. The skill here is that the pieces all have egg shells or mother of pearl shells crushed into tiny pieces and placed with tweezers to make the pattern that the artisan is after (maybe check out the photos and you’ll see what I mean), before they then put the lacquer over the top. Of course after going through the production process we were ushered into the show room for a bit of retail therapy as is pretty standard on these tours….hey, the air-con was good!

The Lacquer Factory.

The Lacquer Factory.

Eat your heart out Picasso.

It's not really my cup of tea - but the air con in show room was good!

It looks a little like something I saw on the sides of a Sandman back in the day.

Jumping back onto our chariot we headed further towards the centre of town. Our next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral which dates back to 1880. Ho Chi Minh City has a big French flavour to it, as Saigon (as it was then known) was occupied by the French for just less than one hundred years, starting from 1859. The wide, tree lined boulevards, old European buildings and sprawling parks are all a left over from those times. Now Notre Dame Cathedral is nowhere near as grand as it’s Parisian equivalent but it’s still a pretty impressive old building I think. It’s not just Notre Dame that makes this spot special though, as after braving the waves of motorbikes, we were able to cross the road and check out another historic old French building, this time the old Post Office that was finished being built in 1891. The old Post Office is a neo-classical building and with it’s arched windows and vaulted ceilings it looks more like an old railway station to me. The architect that designed and built the Post Office was a man by the name of Gustave Eiffel…apparently he designed a few other things too.

Notre Dame

Saigon Central Post office

The inside of the old post office reminded me of an old railway station a bit.

Now Notre Dame and the historic Post Office were all nice enough but for me the most interesting thing in this spot was an old, grey, slightly dilapidated looking building a hundred metres or so away. This old building is featured in one of the most famous photos of all time (well that’s an under thought out, Feral opinion!). The bare, square box like building is the same building that featured in the many news reports of the fall of Saigon, the picture of the US helicopter hovering on the roof while people clambered up a ladder trying to get on was called the last flight at of Saigon in many news articles a the time, it was a powerful image of a war going wrong (now once again the only research I've done on this is listening to out tour guides spiel, so it could be another Feral fact!). Now days the original building is still there but there is a big, modern highrise building right behind it so you need to use a little imagination to recreate the photo in your head, thankful my Feral imagination is one of the few things I’ve got that still works well.

Does this place look familiar?

How about this one. Here's one I took earlier;)

The Reunification Palace.

I'm not sure if this is the actual tank that burst through the gates back in 1975.

Next up we headed to the Reunification Palace for a bit of a look. The palace even features an old North Vietnamese Army Tank in the grounds, although I’m not sure if it’s the same one which crashed though the gates in 1975 marking the Fall of Saigon. We didn’t actually go into the Reunification Palace today though, we just checked it out through the gates before jumping back onboard our bus and making the short trip over to Ben Thanh Market. We had around an hour at the bustling and somewhat claustrophobic markets, although after venturing inside the rabbit warren of stalls it didn’t take me long to realise that this wasn’t for me. Thankfully Sam isn’t that keen on cheap knock off’s either so we decided to explore a little around the area onside the market. If you ever find yourself at Ben Thanh Market then that is the time to be on high alert when it comes to looking after your passport and wallet I think, it’s prime pick pocket territory I reckon. Thankfully Sam and I had now mastered the road crossing technique so we were able to make our way around the neighbourhood in relative safety.

Ben Thanh Market

It was a bit too crowded inside the market so Sam and I spent some time exploring the surrounding area.

It wasn't all motor bikes in Ho Chi Minh City.

This place is definitely bustling. 

Exploring Ho Chi Minh City on foot.

Ben Thanh Market

Ben Thanh Market

After visiting the Ben Thanh Market we made the short trip over to Dong Khoi Street, this is reputably one of Ho Chi Minh City’s busiest streets and is home to a lot of shops both of the knock off and high end variety. We had a few hours of free time to wander around here but to be honest the heat and humidity were pretty extreme so we squibbed it a bit. After checking out the French inspired Opera House, the National Museum of Vietnamese History and Union Square we retired to an air-conditioned cafe for lunch, yep we are hardcore travellers!

The Opera House

There is a real French feel to a lot of the architecture in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City

Dong Khoi Street is one of the more popular shopping strips in Ho Chi Min City.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City

After our relaxing lunch it was again time to jump back on the bus and head back to Phu My and our ship. It was now afternoon peak hour in Ho Chi Minh City and we did indeed achieve peak motorbike I think, the bikes where everywhere, even taking to the foot paths if the roads were a bit slow. Once again this all sounds a little ho hum, but coming from a western style city I found it fascinating watching the (somewhat) organised chaos around me, everyone seemed to be getting to where they needed to go and best of all there was no agro. It was early evening when we got back to the ship and we just had time for a quick shower before heading up on deck to take in the view as we sailed away from Vietnam.

Heading out of Ho Chi Minh City at knock off time.

There were new factories being built everywhere with no shortage of Australian and American companies setting up there. Maybe Trump is making Vietnam Great Again with his Chinese tariffs? It looks like everyone has moved shop across the border.

The workers live in these new cities, there are miles and miles of them lining the highway.

Crossing back over the Sõng Soài Rap on the way back to the ship.

There isn't much land wasted here, in between the sprawling industrial cities we passed beside farmers working in their rice paddies.

The Dirt.
We visited Ho Chi Minh City on a Princess cruise and with the ship docking a good hour and a half from the centre of the city in the port town of Phu My, we decided the best way to check things out would be on a Princess tour. We went on a tour called Lacquer Factory, Central Market & Dong Khoi Street which cost us just under $100 US for the day, with the tour lasting for around ten hours it's a big day out.

Relevant Posts.

Nha Trang, Vietnam, 2018.
Singapore, 2017.

Like I've said before - I'm soft!

Back at the ship, our day in Ho Chi Minh was over. Time for a shower!

The ship actually docked a fair way up the Sõng Thi Vái, judging by the number of dredges out as we left tonight it must take a lot of work keeping it open for big ships.