C & C globetrotting around the world…

Saigon changed its name to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) after the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975 in honour of Ho Chi Minh, who is regarded as the father of Vietnam today. Saigon is larger than Hanoi and the commercial centre of the country, driving economic growth forward. The motorbikes on the streets are endless and you feel the energy of the city. Pham Ngu Lao district is where all the tourists stay and the few blocks are bustling with restaurants and bars. Between the busy streets there are small alleys. It reminded us of the hutongs in Beijing, but the Vietnamese version is a lot crazier. Although most of the upstairs rooms of houses have been converted to hotels, people live downstairs in the lobby. They keep the door open, lie on the cold floor tiles while watching tv or sleeping, so you can see right in. Some also have small restaurants, although these are more common on the bigger streets or at the beginning of the alleys. What is interesting to see is that every house has a small altar with incense and food. Although the Vietnamese are Buddhists, they also worship their ancestors.

One of the musts of a tour in Saigon is a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The communists reigned in China and northern Vietnam, so the Americans wanted to stop the spread further South. They therefore used an excuse to unofficially start war on Vietnam in 1965 to eradicate the Viet Cong (the communist guerrilla group). The Viet Cong (VC) fighters built the Cu Chi Tunnels in order to fight the US Army, a network of 200km outside Saigon. Their network was intricate and the soldiers only knew their specific zone, not venturing further afield. This was because the labyrinth was extremely complex with lots of traps and hidden passageways, but also because they wouldn’t be able to divulge valuable information if they were captured and tortured. The tunnels were usually 50cm high, while some were only 20cm high, so only VC soldiers could pass through. They also had 3 different levels at 3m, 6m and 10m underground respectively. They were built to withstand bomb attacks and had escape tunnels into the Saigon river. In and around the tunnels the Viet Cong built lots of traps using scrap from US bomb shells. They also wore their sandals backwards to disorient any Americans that would discover their footprints. Our guide showed us the various traps built and the actual size of the tunnel entries. Nowadays the tunnels have been made 50% larger for tourists to go through, but they are still very small. Since the VC could only operate at night, they spent their days indoors and had to be exchanged every month against another group due to lack of sunlight. Their system worked very well and they were even able to penetrate into the US embassy in Saigon, as well as a US base to kill soldiers and gather supplies. It was really impressive to see and to be inside the famous Cu Chi Tunnels.

It was a very war-filled day. After the tunnels we were dropped off at the War Remnats Museum, where we could read about and see the atrocities perpetrated by the US Army on the Vietnamese. The worst part was to see that they used a chemical (called Agent Orange) on the civil population, leaving many people with deformities, even generations later. We also passed by the Reunification Palace built in 1966 to serve as South Vietnam’s Presidential Palace. The first communist tanks in Saigon crashed through its gates in 1974 when Saigon surrendered to the North. The Post office is a nice building left over from the French colonial period, right next to the Notre-Dame Cathedral. We were inside the cathedral and saw a guy with a Canadian flag pin, so we asked him if the Governor General was coming soon (we knew he was also visiting Vietnam). About 20 minutes later Mr. David Johnston did indeed make a quick appearance and Christoph was able to shake his hand too. It’s not like meeting Henri, but still cool.

One day we had lunch at Pho 2000, a famous pho (beef noodle soup) restaurant where Bill Clinton also ate during one of his visits as President. We also went to the Ben Thanh Market to look around. There is so much stuff, but it seems to be all the same. Some things are nice, but you have to really look to find something, especially since they charge high prices because tourists come here anyway. Christoph got annoyed by the fact that the salespeople pull your arm to attract you to their stand, but it wasn’t working with us. Overall people in Saigon were nicer than in Hanoi and didn’t try to rip you off quite as often, but we enjoyed the Old Quarter of Hanoi better since it was more lively with locals, as opposed to the “backpackers’ quarter” in Saigon.