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We'll travel anywhere to escape Brexit
Up early for a full day of sightseeing. We decide to take a walking tour from our tried and tested friend 'The Lonely Planet Guide'. Walking a city we find ( however hot and humid is the best way to get a real feel for it). The heat however at 8.30am is perfectly manageable not so sure it will be at 12noon. After passing Ben Thanh Market and the Fine Arts Museum we arrive at Dong Khoi the colonial area of HCMC but not before weaving in and out of motorbikes while crossing the roads and even dodging the ones that choose to ride the pavements. It is unbelievable the amount of mopeds that are on the streets.
This area is the eye to it's colonial past. Wide tree lined boulevards, the most upmarket shopping and grand old-damme hotels -The Rex and the Continental are evocative of Paris and have inspired a nickname for Saigon that is apt, 'The Paris of Asia'. Amongst the glamour lies a beautiful statue of Uncle Ho with a child in front of the Town Hall. Of course this beautiful Beau building has the crimson backed gold star that is the country's flag and one of the last remaining references to communism. This area teems with history which is famously brought to us in Graham Greene's novel "The Quiet American".
Round the corner another art deco delight. The Post Office is magnificent; reminiscent of a grand train station from 100 years ago and complete with jars of glue for your stamps on the counter. All again gazed down upon by Uncle Ho. No offence readers but we stick with the modern electronic age and avoid buying 100s of postcards to individually write out and post our progress. The Opera House and Cathedral are more remnants of it's colonial past.
Another hot walk and hazardous crossing between the mopeds brings us to the Jade Pagoda for a spiritual fix. We take in these sights and head back across town to another highlight.
The Reunification Palace is an architectural gem, built in the modernist style in the 60s to replace a more colonial Palace bombed in an uprising. It is now perfect as a museum to the years that led up to and include the horrors of the Vietnam War. Inside are the private residences mixed with bunkers and the offices where the North Vietnamese general was handed over power from the southern state; to which he replied "how can you hand over something that was never yours". Atop the building is also the site of the famous helicopter evacuation.
One of the most striking symbols of the war was when the Northern tanks smashed down the gates of the palace and drove on to the gardens. The tank commander runs up the gardens in to the palace waving the North's flag and dispatches it to fly over this reunited land. The Tanks are waiting for you at the gate - a gentle reminder that this building of beauty has also witnessed terrible pain.
This area is the eye to it's colonial past. Wide tree lined boulevards, the most upmarket shopping and grand old-damme hotels -The Rex and the Continental are evocative of Paris and have inspired a nickname for Saigon that is apt, 'The Paris of Asia'. Amongst the glamour lies a beautiful statue of Uncle Ho with a child in front of the Town Hall. Of course this beautiful Beau building has the crimson backed gold star that is the country's flag and one of the last remaining references to communism. This area teems with history which is famously brought to us in Graham Greene's novel "The Quiet American".
Round the corner another art deco delight. The Post Office is magnificent; reminiscent of a grand train station from 100 years ago and complete with jars of glue for your stamps on the counter. All again gazed down upon by Uncle Ho. No offence readers but we stick with the modern electronic age and avoid buying 100s of postcards to individually write out and post our progress. The Opera House and Cathedral are more remnants of it's colonial past.
Another hot walk and hazardous crossing between the mopeds brings us to the Jade Pagoda for a spiritual fix. We take in these sights and head back across town to another highlight.
The Reunification Palace is an architectural gem, built in the modernist style in the 60s to replace a more colonial Palace bombed in an uprising. It is now perfect as a museum to the years that led up to and include the horrors of the Vietnam War. Inside are the private residences mixed with bunkers and the offices where the North Vietnamese general was handed over power from the southern state; to which he replied "how can you hand over something that was never yours". Atop the building is also the site of the famous helicopter evacuation.
One of the most striking symbols of the war was when the Northern tanks smashed down the gates of the palace and drove on to the gardens. The tank commander runs up the gardens in to the palace waving the North's flag and dispatches it to fly over this reunited land. The Tanks are waiting for you at the gate - a gentle reminder that this building of beauty has also witnessed terrible pain.
- comments
Karen Hyman Is this instead of body pump Suzanne?!?!
Sara Amelia You are taking backpacking a little too far. Did you not get yourself a rucksack Suzanne?! Xx