Ho Chi Minh City

This morning we say goodby to Cambodia and return to Vietnam. Our 1 hour 10 minute flight to Ho Chi Minh City arrives 20 minutes early and we must call our guide to tell her we are waiting at the airport. The heat and humidity hits us in waves as we wait curbside outside. Linh finds us and 15 minutes later we are loading luggage into a van.

​Linh introduces herself as we drive to a restaurant. We have a good multi-course Vietnamese meal at a restaurant that is popular for tour groups. A bus of ~ 40 people arrives as we are eating Goi Ngó Sen Tôm Thit (lotus rhizomes shrimp salad).

We’re a little tired and according to our printed itinerary, we should have gone to our hotel before lunch to avoid the heat of the day. But we roll with it when Linh says we are going to visit the Reunification Palace. It was completed in 1966, replacing the old palace after two rogue helicopter pilots revolted against the South Vietnam President and bombed the old palace. This was the residence of the President of South Vietnam during the American-Vietnam War. It was also the site of the end of the war in 1975 when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gate. We walk through the rooms, ultimately going down into the bunkers. Here we see the equipment and charts used to command the war. A very interesting. but non-air conditioned history-filled building. We’re hot.

The next stop is the War Remnants Museum. This museum tells the story of the American-Vietnam War from the perspective of the victors - North Vietnam. When we arrive at the museum William isn’t feeling well. The driver will not run the van air conditioning in the parking lot, so Linh arranged for the driver to take him to our hotel while the rest of us go through the museum. I start with the tanks, planes and replica of the imprisonment system used by a South Vietnam, then move indoors. It is a difficult museum for us to go through, feeling so one-sided (and obviously not our side), though it is promoted by the Vietnamese government as fact-based.

​After I’ve seen most of the museum I receive a text from William that he cannot check into the hotel. Turns out that he is at the wrong hotel - oh oh! We all agree we’ve seen enough of the museum. Off we go. Linh has the driver pickup William (and all of our luggage) and we all go to the correct hotel sporting the exact same name just a few blocks away. We all have a chance to relax in our rooms, by the pool or in the lounge to chill and decompress.

​For dinner the hotel recommends La Cuisine, a French restaurant about 8 blocks away. We have a wonderful meal in a room with only the six of us for most of the evening. The temperature in evening is cooler and much more pleasant as we stroll back to our hotel.