The Sights of Ho Chi Minh

Oh the weekend! Khaly and I woke up a bit earlier this morning (I didn’t think that was possible) to make sure we got a half hour run in. Today I did THREE laps! Wahooooo! We wore our new tank tops which made it MUCH more enjoyable not to have a shirt bogging you down. We both went very slowly (but we weren’t walking) to ensure we would make the most of our exercise. I will be the first to admit I am out of shape! I have no problem saying that. BUT I am not a runner and now am running, so my body is SO sore! On top of that, even though its 5:30am the air is thick and muggy and hot which makes my already out of shape body work even HARDER to breath!

I love taking showers after working out! I had some time to relax and then met Khaly and Ken downstairs for our tour of the city! We met “Mr. Long” and he was SO funny! We can’t tell if he is gay or not, but he is 23 just graduated from university and wants to be an English teacher. He had the mannerism of Michael Jackson which made us all laugh!

We didn’t exactly know what we wanted to do but gave him some thoughts and off we went! We took a taxi to our first stop, the Jade Emperor Pagoda. After China, I am a bit Pagoda’d out! I think Ken and Khaly appreciated it because they hadn’t already seen 2,348 (aren’t I spoiled) but also the ones in China were MUCH better! It was great to see though!

We then took another taxi to the Reunification Palace. This was where the President worked and lived and is now a museum. It was nice, but it was sort of, after you have seen one room you have seen them all. We all enjoyed the basement area which had old machines and rooms and everything from the 70’s, which was cool to see.
It was VERY hot (a CLEAR day which I actually DON’T enjoy here!) so we stopped and treated Long to frozen yogurt! It was awesome and it was a ‘do it yourself’ very westernized frozen yogurt place. It was nice to sit down and chat with Long. He told us how his sister just got married and he will be an uncle soon. He has never had a girlfriend (the girl he likes doesn’t like him and the girls that like him, he doesn’t like! We told him that was universal!) Throughout the day it was just fun to hear about his life and the Vietnam culture. He was born here and has never been out of the country but would like to travel to the United States to practice his English.

We continued on to Notre Dame Cathedral. It actually looked very similar to the one in Paris (yes, I am a travel snob). Unfortunately, it wasn’t open so we weren’t able to go inside, but I had already planned to go to Mass there on Sunday (although I can’t this Sunday because we are taking the orphanage ladies out shopping) but I think that was God’s way of saying, “COME BACK!!!”

We then went to the Central Post Office which is actually a tourist destination! It looks like a train station both outside and in but it is very beautiful. I was able to get some postcards, so keep your eyes peeled! When we were leaving to go to lunch, we heard Long ask Ken something and found out he asked Ken to dinner. I think Ken was a little worried, but later on Long told us girls, “Oh I asked Ken to dinner -- we should all go out sometime” so I don’t think it was a date!

We ate at Quan An Ngon, featured in lonely planet, which was nice. The place is HUGE and both foreigners and locals go. I got a pork and rice dish with a strawberry smoothie and all was well. But, they brought out soup, which none of us had ordered, and I could tell both Long and Khaly were getting aggravated that they wanted us to keep it and eat it. They finally left, only to come back and say they couldn’t return it to the kitchen so we had to keep it. VERY different from the American “the customer is always right” philosophy.

We left from lunch to go to our last stop of the day, the War Remnants Museum. I am so glad we saved that to the end, because I don’t think it would have been a good way to START the day. It was HEAVY stuff. They have a LOT of pictures..actually I think that is mostly it. It reminded me of going to a museum about the Holocaust in a way, just a lot of death and torture and murder etc. I am VERY glad we went, but it was a lot to take in and see.

I did ask Long about how Vietnamese people viewed Americans. He said he thought in general the last few years have changed a lot. He thinks most people are accepting of Americans and also thinks tourism has increased in the past few years as well.
By then it was about 3:00pm and we were EXHAUSTED and hot and ready to go back! We thanked Long and gave him our phone numbers so maybe we will see him again!

On our way back we stopped so I could add more minutes on my phone (yay) and to get some shakes at a café (NOTHING is better on a hot day).

Khaly and I got tickets to see the Water Puppet Show, so we came back to rest in the AC. I ended up taking a little nap which felt SO good! We walked the 20 minutes to the Water Puppet Theater and while we already had tickets we needed to get seats. Unfortunately, we were the second to last row. It is a very old theater, and while it was slanted, it was very hard to see. The show was only 50 minutes and very..different? it was all in Vietnamese so between the language and not being able to see very well I didn’t really understand. But, it felt very Vietnamese and it was something different and fun to do. I am not sure if I would recommend it though..but hey..while in Rome!

When I got back I quickly got ready for my big date! Woo hoo! Whenever Steve and I skype I never know what I am going to get. Sometimes he doesn’t have a webcam or a microphone so we IM. Other times he has just a microphone (so it’s like we are on the phone) or just a webcam (so we IM but can’t hear each other and we think this is good practice for when we are old and deaf). Last night I got to see him (wahooo..luckily he is still cute!) but no microphone so we just IM’d!

Hugs and kisses from the sites of Ho Chi Minh!