Another view from our room. The sun was out and the humidity was high.
There are a lot of trees and plants all over the First District which is where we’re staying. Looking down from another one of our hotel rooms.
Delicious noodle soup for breakfast!
More delicious food for breakfast…
… and more!
The hotel where we’re staying in Ho Chi Minh City.
Back to explore the indoor market.
It’s a huge market absolutely crammed with booths.
About a third of the market is food related.
And around the outside of one part was a fish market.
So many types of seafood!
And fresh fruits and veggies.
The old and new all jumbled together. Super interesting to see.
On our way to Independence Palace we stopped at Highlands Coffee where we hung out for an hour by a huge fan and lots of iced coffee.
Sitting next to the big fan in the shade.
The coffee here is refreshing on a hot day.
After our coffee break we continued our walk to the Independence Palace Park. We stopped at the April 30 park and ended up buying a bunch of coconuts to drink the juice. I have to hand it to the sales guy, he totally knew how to get us to make a purchase!
The banyan trees at the park are impressive.
A tribute to a martyr from the war.
We finally made it to the Palace Park. It was an odd experience for me. I graduated university with a Political Science degree with an emphasis on the Vietnam War. I’ve seen many films and read many books about that period and I’ve read about and seen film about the fall of Saigon and the chaos that happened that day and especially at this building. The odd part, which makes total sense, is that the story told in the placards and brochures was totally from the other “winning” side of that day. I honestly just felt sad walking through the Palace. So many deaths, so many broken people and families, so much tragedy and here I am walking through the symbol of Independence as a tourist. Weird. It felt haunted by the memories of hundreds of years of colonial rule and later being caught up in the political machinations of the world’s super powers of the time.
I’m glad I went and I’ll never go back.
Vietnam specific Coke can marketing
After touring the Palace we were all hungry. Fortunately a wonderful concept restaurant was on our way back to the hotel. It has a dozen or so “food stands” inside although you order from a menu and the food is cooked at a specific stand and brought to your table. Jaedan called the restaurant “ the Cheesecake Factory Of Vietnam” because the menu was huge!
The resident cat “Angel”
It’s a frickin’ huge menu
Holy smokes that was a big day and it’s only lunch! Part two is just as packed if not more! Stay tuned!