Dorothy & David Case ...Meandering the World: March 30, 31, 2015, Monday, Tuesday, Ho Chi Minh City

Monday After a morning free to catch up on blogging, we transferred to the airport and flew to Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. Right away we saw that this city is much more developed than Cambodia or Thailand. Soliid buildings and storefronts, regular roads. Motocyclists outnumber cars, but they wear helmets and our guide said there are relatively few accidents. There are about 9 million people here and 4 million have motorbikes they generically call Hondas. We drove by the palace which is now a museum where the tankers smashed into the front gates.

Streets of Ho Chi Minh

We drove through the main city and saw a huge skyscraper. We drove by two or three nice shady city parks.

After returning "home" to the ship we had a quick dinner and went to the Majestic Hotel for our Magic Minn Cultural Show. The hotel is owned by the government. Viet Nam is communist, but now only 30% is govt owned. The show was okay.

He reminded me of Alan Akaka, but this lap instrument had only one string.

Mostly I enjoyed seeing and hearing the unusual instruments. One had only two strings and played sort of like a violin, ie with a bow. Another had one string which was attached to an antenna and could make every note. the antenna could make the sound warble.

Then there was a xylophone made out of bamboo.

And lastly was a xylophone made out of stones. They said this was a small one.

March 31, Tuesday. We were off early for our excursions. David went to "Good Morning Viet Nam". He went to the Museum of Remembrants, (sic), the unification palace, and the Cu chi tunnels. He bought a book, "Bare Feet Iron Will". His camera and iPhone ran out of gas.

I went to the Mekong River Cruise.

First we stopped at a temple built in 1849 with a seated "happy" Buddha.

Behind was a new Buddha lying down, built only 2 years ago.

In front was a standing Buddha 12 years old. This was our happy stop, ie restrooms. Then we drove an hour or so to the river bank and got into a boat with about 20 chairs and a canvas roof and motored on the Mekong River to an island. Mekong means Mother. We passed a rice factory. The chaff is sold as fuel. There were also fish farms, and houseboats.

There were barges carrying up to 40 tons of rice The fish are called kangaroo fish. Our guide said that when the white man came to Australia they asked what was the name of the animal with the pouch and were told kangaroo. Later they found out that kangaroo means "I don't know", that is why the fish is a kangaroo fish.

inside a home

We got off the boat and walked around one of four islands on the river. First we had a honey demonstration. We were served tea with bee pollen and honey. I bought candied ginger. Then we walked to another area and had fruits and a concert. I had jackfruit. Then we walked along and saw a typical home.

TV, lots of hammocks, clothes hung on a rope, but all the essentials, even a small frig. Then we had another boat ride in a small boat holding 4 people and the two women who steered and paddled along this narrow channel.

After we got off we went to a rich gentleman's home and had our photo taken with him. He was a Viet Cong but is now 86 yrs old. He had mother of pearl inlaid furniture and large rooms for him and his wife. The kids visit on the weekend. He showed us through his home and kitchen. You have to remove your hat to show respect.

Then we went to a restaurant for our lunch. What a beautiful feast. There was a whole fish displayed, laarge shrimp in a coconut, and spring rolls displayed on a pineapple. You wrapped the fish with thin cucumber and pineapple in a rice paper. Delicious. Then they brought out a hot pot of broth with veges. The surprise was a big balloon they cut and folded. Inside was sweet sticky rice. Just cut it with scissors in triangles for dessert. After lunch we took the first larger boat back to the dock and drove back to our very big boat.

We've seen these large desert rose plants before but not so many at once.

House boat

Woman on our smaller boat

We left Saigon at 4:00pm during my stretching class. We all liked Viet Nam. It was hot, but it cools down in the evening with breezes from the river. It is clean and friendly and more developed than anywhere else David and I have been. Someone on my tour said they were here 20 years ago. It was a government tour, the only kind you could do. It was not as nice as this is now, they said.

David's Good Morning Viet Nam photos