Day 26 - Ho Chi Minh, Take 2...

After a long day of running around the Mekong Delta, I decided to go exploring the concrete jungle of Ho Chi Minh City on foot. Obstacle #1: Figure out how to cross the street! Trying to navigate across streets like this picture is a daunting task when it is your first time seeing this many motor bikes in one place at the same time! Fortunately, I did get it figured out though. You really have to treat the motor bikes as if they were wild animals: walk very slowly, don't make any sudden movements, and they will just go right around you. It's really amazing how well the absolute chaos works.

My first stop of the morning was at the Cho Ben Thanh Market. From what I had read about this market is that it is a great opportunity to find a number of souvenirs, inexpensive clothing and jewelry, a variety of street vendors selling authentic Vietnamese food, and also to get your things pick pocketed! As you can see, this place is absolutely wall-to-wall people! I didn't stay too long as I wasn't really in the market for a knock off Gucci hand bag. The souvenirs were nice, but just really weren't what I was looking for. I decided not to try the food because it was still early in the day, but looking back on it now, I should have tried a little something. To play things on the safe side, I decided to wear my back pack on my chest and lucky for me, I made it out of the market with all of my belongings.

After the market I make my way through the city, and of all the things to see in a city in Southeast Asia, I stumble upon a Catholic Church called the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I kid you not people. Vietnam was actually a French colony for quite a long time. As a part of that colonization, the French of course brought their religion, and even though Catholicism is by far the minority religion in Vietnam, this Cathedral has endured. It's quite a nice Cathedral, but I have nothing to compare it to since I haven't ever seen the original Notre Dame in France (some day). After I was done playing photographer (I probably have way too many pictures of this Cathedral if you ever want to see them), I decide that it's finally time to get some food. At this point in the extremely hot humid day, there was one aspect of a restaurant that I was looking for specifically: AIR CONDITIONING. After walking probably four miles in the Vietnamese heat, the sweat was dripping down my back. After a little bit of searching, I come across this little place called Pho 24. I'm sure you can all guess what they specialize in. It had everything that I was looking for: delicious food and A/C. As I was finishing up my meal, I came to find out that this is the Vietnamese version of fast food. It's a large chain of restaurants that are all over Vietnam. Regardless, I still thought the chicken pho I had (which I could add all of my own spices and sauces) was fantastic.

Once I was done with lunch, I started walking for my next destination, when Mother Nature decided to remind me that it was still the rainy season in Southeast Asia. It was a pretty persistent rain and I had about 2 miles to walk in order to get to my next location. Lucky for me, I had decided to bring my umbrella with me. A little damp, but I eventually make it to the Vietnam War Remnants Museum. The museum has sections devoted to both the war with the United States and with the French. It was a very interesting experience to see how the Vietnamese viewed the war and actions taken by the US. It was also very sobering because there were some parts of the museum that were rather graphic where they showed the repercussions of napalm and Agent Orange. The collection of military equipment outside the museum was very interesting from the mere observation that they were all American. There wasn't one piece of Vietnamese military equipment. The final thing that I saw in the museum was a reconstruction of what a Vietnamese prison cell looked like with some of the torture equipment they used.

After the museum, I decided that I had walked enough for one day and I would head back towards the hotel to rest and find something to eat. I couldn't go back to my room, because I had already checked out since I was taking a sleeper train that night. I ended up finding a small little bar type place to grab something to eat and a few beers. I was able to get some delicious beef satay and a Saigon beer. On this night however, I was in a little bit more of social mood and I struck up a conversation with the nice Vietnamese lady that manages the bar. It was really interesting to see just how open she would be with a total stranger. She immediately began telling me her life story and how she married young and had a child, but is now divorced, but the father is still in the picture...It was quite an interesting conversation, but it ended up being a little one sided.

Once I was done with my dinner I went back to my hotel where they were still holding on to my luggage. From there I took a taxi over to the train station. At the train station, I quickly learned that there was no signs, screens, or announcements in English. I knew that my train left at 11:30, so I really had to try and guess correctly to make sure I got on my train. Lucky for me, I just followed the masses at the right time and I was able to get on my train with plenty of time. Now I've never taken a sleeper train before, so I didn't really know what to expect. When I got to my room, I walk in and see two bunk beds on either side of the room. Fortunately for me, mine was the bottom bunk so I could easily hide my luggage underneath. So now I settle in for what I hope will be some restful sleep. I've got my sleeping mask that I stole from one of my business flights, and some ear plugs from the refinery. We'll see how well this goes.