Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is surprisingly
not very different from other metropolises around the world. The main
difference is the labyrinth of alleyways that exist within the square block in
which we are staying. When we booked the hotel, we booked a hotel close to
where the bus drops us off. Trip Advisor indicated that the hotel could be hard to find.
The instructions said: find the small blue sign that says 219, turn into the
alley and then go straight, straight, right, and left. I’m so glad we found it!
It is if an entire secret world exists just in the alleyways here. People’s
homes, hotels, restaurants, shops, and hairdressers all lay next to narrow
stone lanes filled with zipping scooters. It’s pretty amazing. I’m surprised
James Bond or Jason Bourne haven’t had some sort of chase scene in these
alleys.
The rest of the city is just
alright. It’s much greener and has a much more relaxed vibe than Hanoi. We
spend most of the day going to the Indian embassy so that Pallavi could get an Indian visa. That gave us a chance to walk right by the Reunification Palace, complete
with the tank that ended the Vietnam conflict proudly parked in the lawn, and
to go to the War Remnants Museum. The War Remnants Museum contains photos,
artifacts, and exhibits focused on the American-Vietnam conflict. I
particularly wanted to see this museum especially because I had heard that it
is pretty graphic and relatively anti-American in sentiment.
The museum was incredibly
powerful. Again, everything I learned about the Vietnam conflict, I learned
from pop culture, primarily Forest Gump. Propaganda or not, the facts remain
that we still dropped TONS of Agent Orange and committed massacres against the
Vietnamese people. How horrible. I’m
really glad that we went and would highly recommend it to people.
The rest of the day we just took
it easy, checked off our eating and shopping list from Vietnam, and just
planned for the rest of our trip! We have to ‘kill’ a week before Pallavi’s
visa comes back and then high-tail it over to Cambodia for a fast finish to our
Southeast Asian adventure.
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