+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | _______ | Have TARDIS, will travel | | ,--'.:::::.`-._ | | | /..:::::::::::..\ | | | /..:::::::::_;::::| | | | || `---'----' _|:::| | | | || `;:::| | | | |' ==== ==== |-::| | | | |-( @ )-( @ )--|O):| | | | | ` | ` |/::' | | | . v |:/ jeremy@ | | | | ___, || malcolm | | | \ -- _/| .id.au | | | \_____.-'__/-.__ | | | _| _/|::.\.::-._ | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [*] news [ ] about [ ] writing [ ] journal [ ] images [ ] guests | | +--- last 5 | | |->> archive | | `--- search | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Vietnam" :: [2009-11-30 10:07PM] | | | | This long weekend, for Dom's birthday, we have taken a trip to Ho Chi Minh | | City, aka Saigon. Because our time was short, we stayed largely to the | | tourist trail, which involved market shopping and an (admittedly excellent | | and unusual) water puppet theatre show on the first evening, then on the | | following day a tour of the wartime Cu Chi Tunnels (I'm ashamed to say I | | could barely tolerate the five minutes it took to crawl 100 metres), and | | Tay Ninh where we saw the Holy See of Vietnam's unique Cao Dai religion. | | Our tour guide also played the usual trick of taking us to a local | | handicrafts factory, where we paid about three times the going price for | | some beautiful lacquer goods. | | | | Lunch that day was typical, and included a flavourful noodle soup with | | pork, spring rolls, and crusty French-style bread which we filled with | | chicken and coriander. Passionfruit - which we've rather missed since | | leaving Australia - is also much more common here, being served as a | | drink, and to top Dom's 26th birthday cake (which I surreptitiously | | ordered from the hotel). For a few cents we also sampled some delicious | | toasted banana from the street side, served in sago milk. | | | | On our final day we walked around a bit, which is an adventure in itself | | given the continuous onslaught of suicidal motorcyclists. Our first stop | | was the Reunification Palace, which was the former 1960s vintage South | | Vietnamese Presidential Palace, and of relatively little interest other | | than its basement cum bomb shelter and war rooms, complete with chunky | | radio and telephony equipment and a cryptography room. Providing a | | contrast was the Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame, dating from the earlier | | years of Vietnam's French occupation. | | | | Other than some of the architecture and the bread, not much seems to | | remain of the French influence. Overall, Vietnam strikes me as a cross | | between China (which it borders to the north) and north Thailand (which is | | not far away to the west, with Laos in between). But the only noticeable | | signs that you are in a communist country are the socialist propaganda | | posters, and the slanted descriptions of the "liberation" of South Vietnam | | given in museums. In a nice touch of irony, we stayed in the Rex hotel, | | the rooftop bar of which was popular with US officers and GIs during the | | war. | | | | reply (0 comments) | | << Back | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Links: portal / wedding / calendar / honours / phd / iq / igfwatch / random | | page generated in 0.052 seconds sadlittlewebjournal 2.9.3 | | content (c) its respective creator(s) web administration | | valid html 4.01 transitional foaf / rss feed | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+