It is hard to believe that over years thirty have passed since the last of the American forces left the shores of Vietnam. So much has changed and taken place throughout the world in this timeframe, from worldwide events, to technological advancements, to worldwide travel and tourism, to music to everyday living and to how we see the world today. To put this into perspective, almost 70% of the people living in Vietnam were not even born at the time of the war. There were no personal computers, microwave ovens, cell phones during this timeframe. We were listening to music using eight track tapes and/or LP Record Albums. The Beatles had only broken up a few years earlier, the Rolling Stones were in their heyday, and disco fever had not yet hit the airwaves. We saw the world on television just through the national news, as there were no twenty-four hour news networks. The majority of cars bought and sold in the United States were domestic cars. All of this makes us wonder what changes will take place thirty years from now as change occurs more rapidly in each succeeding decade.
Ho Chi Minh City is a very exciting city with an atmosphere of electrifying energy. It offers tourists quite a few places to see throughout the city and in other nearby areas. Approximately 8 million people live in this city. As one drives through the city it is highly congested with more motorbikes than we have ever seen before. Everyone you look, there are lots of motorbikes.
Living in this city requires more income than say in the last port of call we visited. In order to survive in this city one needs to have a monthly income of $300.00 per month in US dollars. In order to have an average lifestyle, an income of around $500.00 in US dollars would be required each month.
Some of these places include the Cathedral of our Lady, which was opened to the public in 1880. There is the Historical Museum, which has been opened since 1929 and is house many historical artifacts. There is the Independence Palace, which was completed in 1966 and was the home of the former Prresident of South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu, until the fall of Saigon in 1975. There is the Ben Thanh Market, which is located in the center of the city. Just about forty miles Northwest of Ho Chi Minh City are the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels lie at the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail and were utilized as the base from which Ho Chi Minh gorillas attacked Saigon.
As usual, we slept very well last evening and we awoke early this morning to begin another wonder day on our World Cruise Adventure.
We began our day with our daily workout in the Fitness Center. Keith was the first one to arrive and he worked out the entire time on the Elliptical Machine. Anne Marie arrived about twenty minutes later and other regulars such Mary and John also worked out while we were there. By the time we left, the center was quite busy and all of the Elliptical Machines were in use. As we’ve mentioned, the center has been a good deal busier during this segment of the World Cruise as we have had a relatively younger group of passengers on board the ship for this segment.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room. Afterwards, we ran a few errands including taking care of some items at the Shore Excursion desk and with the Concierge.
During the Captain’s morning announcement he noted that we would arrive in port by 11:00 AM and that the ship would be making some sharp turns as we navigated a river leading to Ho Chi Minh City. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “Wrinkles should only indicate where smiles have been.”
Afterwards, we took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck so that we could view the land on both sides of the ship as we made our way up the river. This is the Vietnam that we expected to see as we viewed jungles full of trees everywhere we looked as well as swamps running through certain areas off the shoreline. Frequently, we would see small fishing boats and we could also see some shacks along the shoreline.
We wanted to mention that we have spoken with a few men who served in Vietnam during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. This is the first time they have been back here since the war. They come here with many mixed emotions. A man we spoke with last evening did two tours over here in the 1960’s and early 1970’s and he said that he was unable to leave the ship in our first port of call as it brought back to many bad memories for him. He did feel comfortable visiting Ho Chi Minh City and actually planned to rent a car for himself and for his wife to see this area on his own.
Our ship docked at Lotus Port, which is located about five miles from downtown Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived around thirty minutes after schedule because we had to wait for another ship to leave the port area. This is an industrial looking port. The locals did set up some stalls on the dock where they sold a variety of items.
The drive into the city takes about thirty minutes given the traffic situation. Crystal provided a complimentary shuttle, which operated between the pier and the Rex Hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Our ship stays overnight in port and our ship is scheduled to depart the port tomorrow at 3:00 PM local time.
Since our tour began at 1:15 PM we had lunch on the ship before beginning our tour. We decided to eat before the dining room was open so we enjoyed a nice salad entrée in our room.
This area of Vietnam is much warmer and humid than where we were the other day. By the afternoon, the temperature seemed to be around 85 degrees Fahrenheit but what made it seem quite warmer was the humidity
Before we began our tour, we walked around the pier to look at items that the locals were selling. These locals were not as pushy as we expected. The prices were quite cheap reflecting the low cost for labor to make the various goods. The prices that we have observed in Vietnam are the lowest prices we have seen from any port of call that we have visited in the last few years. Clearly, the dollar still has value in Vietnam. ☺
The tour that we booked for this afternoon consisted of the highlights of Ho Chi Minh City, which we thought would be a good way to get a nice overview of this city. Overall, we thought that the tour was excellent and we really enjoyed our tour guide. We quickly learned from our tour guide that wherever we drove that we would arrive in five minutes and that any item we wanted to buy was $1.00. ☺
Our tour included a visit to the former Presidential Palace, which is now known as the Reunification Hall. We also visited the National History Museum. We saw the colonial-style Central Post Office. Eiffel designed the post office. Our tour also included a visit to the city’s Chinatown; Cholon, which dates back to the 18th century, and we had the opportunity to see the busy Binh Tay market. Our tour included a view of the 18th century Thien Hau Temple, which was dedicated to the goddess protector of sailors. We also went to a lacquer workshop where we saw first hand skilled artisans practicing their craft. We also had the opportunity to be taken on a cyclos which was a one person seat in a metal basket with a man pedaling on a bicycle in the front. It was quite an interesting experience.
We returned back to the ship at around 6:30 PM and we quickly changed for dinner. We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the main dining room.
Keith & Anne Marie
