Day 2 - Saigon (Part 1)

6th March 2011

I actually woke up at 4:30am and even though I only slept for about three hours, I was feeling energised. It was the beginning of my trip. My first full day and I was in a tight schedule so I wanted to do everything. The city was still sleeping but I got out before sunrise to do some early morning sight seeing. It was a bit strange seeing the streets with so little traffic and crowds.

I started with whatever was closest to my hotel which happened to be the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was already open and they were conducting morning prayers inside. The French-built cathedral is very old (built in 1863 during French colonisation of the country) and features two bell towers which kind of reminds me of the Notre Dame de Paris. The exterior looks like it is made of bricks but when I came closer it was actually tiles. I think it’s one of the nicer old buildings of the city. But it was still dark so I didn’t get any good pictures. I would revisit the site again later on the day.

Next stop was the Reunification Palace which was only a few minutes walk away. The site was the home and headquarters of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and had a lot of history behind it. It was here where the tank of the North Vietnamese army crashed through the front gate of the palace signaling the end of the Vietnam War. I think the tank is still there on display in the front garden. The area was not open yet so I couldn’t get in.

  

I continued walking around the city and came across this strange looking building. Turns out it was a Mariamman Hindu Temple. Again I could not go in as it was still not open yet. 

The next few blocks away was Ben Thanh Market! Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace (opened in 1914) located in the heart of the city. They sell everything here – food, clothing, household items, handicraft, souvenirs, towering piles of colourful fabrics. There is also a food hall inside the building – which makes good Vietnamese food at cheap prices. As I walked though the market, female sellers would come up to me and say “take a look prease”, “you buy now" or "Hello you very handsome". Weird.

At this point I was starting to get hungry so I went back to the hotel for the complimentary breakfast. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped by the City Hall and Municipal Theatre again for more photos.

to be continued...