We had a fantastic holiday in Vietnam with our friends John and Jen. Over the next
several postings I will put up photos to give you a taste. We started in Ho Chi Minh City. I had been there in 2004. I really liked it then and it didn’t disappoint the second time round. It’s so full of life and energy. It’s mindboggling to see how they put to full use their bicycles, and scooters, loading them with people and children (the record was 2 grown ups and 4 kids on one scooter!) or goods of any and all type, with blatant disregard for the laws of gravity and reasonableness (let alone road safety).
The architecture of Vietnam stands out immediately. This is because people pay property tax according to how much front pavement space the building takes up. And you can see the results!!! The buildings tend to be very narrow and deep.
The reunification Palace is an interesting historical monument to what the Vietnamese call “The American War” You can see the gates, taken from when we visited the palace, through which the North Vietnamese communist tank broke through on April 30 1975. This event marked the end of the war.
Enough talking, I’ll let you enjoy the photos. Come back in two weeks for the Mekong Delta.
Love
Alan
Daniela buying wafffles
Ferry across the Saigon river
View of the Saigon River from the Saigon Trade Centre
Night festivities
The Post Office
It looks so comfortable!
Notre Dame cathedral
Motorbikes
The Reunification Palace
The famous Gates
Theatre
Avoiding tax!
Ready...steady...go!
More architecture
City Hall
1 comment:
Yes the scooters (or their drivers) are crazy, but at the same time the traffic seems to be so smooth and orgenised, like a determined chaos. My boyfried rented out one of them and sid it was a pleasure and a lot of fun.
I found it very suprising that even though there are so many scooters and means of transportation there seems to be little smog. And also that you can clearly see stars above Le Lai one of the main streets in the city :)
We did not go to Renunification Palace as there was a conference held at that time but we went to Revolution Museum and if you can laugh at propaganda you will most definatley enjoy this visit.
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