.. my day out as a tourist in Saigon

.. well, i walked 7 kilometers yesterday and here are some pictures taken, just like a typical tourist, most of it, you can find through search engines, but i still put it up for those who are lazy.





.. notre dame cathedral, no vietnamese version of the hunchback spotted because the church was not open, had to try on a Sunday. It was built between 1877 and 1883, with two 40 meter towers topped with iron spires, in neo-Romanesque form, red bricks and colored glass windows all imported from France.






.. Saigon Post Office .. a very old post office, built between 1886 and 1891, it has a glass canopy, ceiling fans, and two gargantuan wall maps of "Saigon et Ses Environs". At the very far end of the arched building .. is Uncle Ho Chi Minh. I was held in awe when i walked in, stood right in the middle of the huge entrance and stared, pissing some French tourist who wanted to take a picture .. and i can almost swear Uncle Ho was smirking at my foolishness.




.. The Saigon Opera House or Ho Chi Minh Municipal Theater, the building was originally built by the French to host Opera shows. In 1955 it was transformed into the South Vietnam's Assembly House. After the nation's reunification the building remained unused. Not long ago it was refurbished. It currently hosts vietnamese theatre and traditional music shows. Would definitely go in one day .. well .. once i can understand Vietnamese.


.. one of the many statues scattered all over the city, i took a picture of it, because it was just too tiring for me after 3 kilometers, and i was seated on a bench with some ladies from Vietnam Airlines nearby, trying to communicate with them using sign language, on how to go to Ben Thanh market, i failed miserably, leaving them giggling and me sweating in shame.


.. well, i made my way there, to Ben Thanh market, which was built in 1913, and is the largest market in the city, French-styled of course, with a distinctive clock tower right at its entrance. I turned away immediately, because it was too humid and cramped, and the peddlers would run at you and grab your arm trying to get you to buy. Look at how the girl is dashing towards me ..


.. i walked back to Diamond Plaza, sat down at a coffee shop of Starbuck equivalent, aptly named Higlands coffee under a canopy shading me from the hot sun, just watching people and time past. The heat became unbearable, and just so happen, Narnia premiered, with Prince Caspian's poster staring right down at me from a huge cylindrical billboard next to the coffee shop.


.. with the tickets bought, i strut into the cinema guided by someone with a torch light, with the movie already started for 5 minutes, found my seat, and muttered "SHIT" so loud almost everyone could hear me. I bought the wrong tickets !! It was the dubbed Vietnamese version, with only a single female voice for all characters. How much more awkward could it be !!?? Good thing they let me change the ticket into the English version which was shown later.

.. i ended the day, tracking my journey on a virtual map on my phone, which came to a count of 7.3 kilometers walked. There is still a lot to be explored, and a lot more landmarks to visit .. the tunnels (you get to fire AK47's and M16's !!), the Mekong delta, temples .. and all this is in Saigon, there is still Hue (central Vietnam) .. and also not to forget a promise i made in one of my earlier posts .. Ha Long Bay.