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Ho Chi Min City, formerly Saigon, has had a chequered history since the French captured it in 1859. They were defeated in May 1954 after the Indo China War. The country was divided into 2 and this led to the Vietnam War and U.S. military involvement, which has been well documented over the years. The war ended when a North Vietnamese tank smashed thought the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon in April 1975. North and South Vietnam became one country again and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Min City.
A two hour drive took us to Ho Chi Min City from where the ship docked at Phu My - P & O seems to have a disposition to berthing at container terminals miles away from where we are supposed to visit - cheap though!
The journey was marginally less hair raising than the drive to Alleppy but the fact that one of the buses burst both rear tyres simultaneously was testament to the shocking condition of the roads. The journey was reminiscent of the roads in India - continuous settlement along the sides of the road, with narrow houses which were usually arranged with accommodation at the back and the family business at the front. We use the term house loosely; a few were well built, 3 storeys and no more than 4 metres wide. Apparently, plots of land are always very narrow. Others were merely shacks with corrugated iron roofs.
The contrast with India was the lack of colour. Our cheerful guide gave us the lowdown on Vietnamese life and culture. As you would expect, high levels of extreme poverty, an education system which had to be paid for, hence education was not compulsory. Similarly, the health care system was not free and from what we saw of a hospital in the city it was very basic. One particular feature of life in Vietnam that will remain with any visitor is the huge numbers of scooters and mopeds which are used to carry everything - an entire family (5 was the highest number of people we saw on one moped), piles of coconuts, a carpet which was as wide as the road, vast quantities of waste paper, you name it they used the moped to transport it. There were more shops selling moped related paraphernalia than anything else. The range of helmets for moped riders and passengers was unlimited - babies and children had tiny helmets in every conceivable colour and design from Thomas to stripy bees with antennae; teenagers had a choice of baseball caps with the helmet part concealed underneath.
How do they all fit on a moped? Well, a family of 5 might fit on like this - The baby/toddler would be in a bamboo high chair with the four legs resting on the footplate, behind is Dad, squashed between him and Mum would be another child. Mum holds a baby in a sling - easy! And there's a rack on the back for shopping.
Many of the young people wear face masks, especially the women. Combine this with a helmet and all that is visible are their eyes. This is as much a fashion statement as an environmental pollution issue. Vietnamese young people want their skin to be as fair as possible so they keep as much of their bodies covered up as possible. When walking in the city they walk under an umbrella to keep out of the sun.
Still on the moped theme- at nearly every road junction you will find a couple of men sitting on tiny plastic stools surrounded by moped tyres, a foot pump and other items required to repair a knackered moped! Crossing the road in Vietnam requires patience, prayer and practice; pedestrian crossings are largely ignored by oncoming traffic so the trick is to cross slowly, weaving in between the cars, mopeds and bikes. We had it cracked by the end of the second day in Vietnam.
In many respects Vietnam was as big a culture shock as India. Very few people speak English and all information except street names (thank goodness) was in Vietnamese. There were a lot of people begging, not quite living permanently on the pavement but certainly only in an open shack. Street vendors plied their different trades - shoe shine, coconut milk drinks, ladies squatted on the pavement with a small stove cooking a type of pancake or soup, of course, wearing the ubiquitous conical sun hat.
At lunchtime office workers would buy lunch from street vendors who also provided them with a tiny stool. We sampled the local favourite for lunch - a bowl of Pho Bo, clear soup with beef, lemongrass and chives - delicious at £2 a head.
The temperature soared to 37c with high humidity by midday so we followed the shade and had a look at the most notable sights, the Notre Dame cathedral, Parisian style tree lined boulevards, Reunification Hall, the War Remnants Museum with a US tank, fighter jet and helicopter in the grounds, and, yes another temple, the Saigon River with a cruise ship berthed at the side!! Oh, also a rather pungent market. All these places were closed between 11 and 1 pm - another triumph for P&O - the shuttle buses arrived at 10.45 and departed at 1.45. Berthing costs can be the only reason why this ship ties up in the middle of nowhere. This cheapskate mentality shocked us today when we were joined at lunch by one of the guest speakers (a retired surgeon from City Hospital, Nottingham) who told us he had had to sleep on a bunk with a very manky mattress, from Mumbai to Hongkong in the crew quarters and had to ask 5 times for his talks to be advertised in the daily Horizon paper. He was very upset that only 12 people attended his first talk. Thankfully, word got round how entertaining and interesting he was and he was so popular that he had to be moved to the largest venue on the ship. While we're on one with P & O our toilet packed up last night, for the 4th time since boarding - we can already hear the smart comments.
Given that it took 36 hours to change a light bulb we didn't hold out great hopes for a repair. It's difficult to rush out of the cabin doing a Jack shouting "Need a wee" at 7.30am. However, it made us get up early and we had walked 12 laps of the deck - 4 miles by 10.15.
- comments
Derek and Kathy Well! All still sounds stunning - when you manage to get to where you want to be- the post card arrived thanks, so your new friends didn't steam off the stamp and head for the Pennines! Talking of steam, we can feel the heat and humidity from here. How many P&O staff does it take to change a light bulb in 36 hours? And so is P&O now P&O&O? Let us know when you have worked that out. Cheers and keep on wlaking>