City of 8 Million Scooters

While doing some research for our trip, I found a site called With Locals where you can find local guides for private tours in about 90 locations in Asia and Europe.  The Viking cruise program officially begins on Tuesday morning so we wanted to have a chance to see some things we will not be seeing as part of the city tours with Viking.  We spent a few hours with Ted and saw some interesting places and learned a good bit of Vietnam.  

One of the things we learned is there are 13 million people in Saigon, 1 million cars and 8 million scooters.  I think we saw all 8 million of them today!  Everywhere you look, there are scooters and the drivers are of all ages.

First stop of the day was Tan Dinh (Pink Church) or The Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The church was built in 1876 and has a beautiful garden with statues for the Stations of the Cross.  Unfortunately, due to thefts, the church is only open during mass times.  They do keep the windows (with decorative bars) open so folks can see inside.

The first president of South Vietnam was Ngo Dinh Diem and he was a staunch Catholic.  He put all sorts of restrictions on Buddhists (the predominant religion of the time and now) and ordered the persecution of them.  On June 11, 1963,  the Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc, in protest of the government and to bring attention to the plight of Buddhists sat down at a very busy Saigon intersection and burned himself.  The picture of Thich Quang Duc was seen around the world and eventually led to led to a US backed coup that toppled Diem.  Today, in order to advance in the Communist Party in Vietnam, you must be Buddhist and anyone of other religions hits a ceiling in their jobs.

Next we visited the Ho Thi Ky Flower Street (wholesale flower market).  The flowers were all so beautiful and fragrant!  I asked Ted how much a dozen roses are if you buy them at a store.  He said if you just buy the flowers, they are about $6 but if you want them arranged for a wedding or special occasion, they would be about $20.

After the bloom falls off the lotus flower,
it looks like the green plant to the left

As we were walking to our next stop, Ted stopped at street vendor and picked us up a fried banana…actually double fried!  The breading was so light and the banana was so sweet.  It was the perfect little snack as we walked along the busy streets.  En route, we passed a sidewalk barber.  These guys are apprentices and since they are not yet licensed, they do not charge for the cuts and just accept tips.

Coffee is one of the biggest sources of income for Vietnam.  It was first introduced by the French during their control of Vietnam…an influence which is still seen around the country still today.  Cafe Cheo Leo is the oldest coffee shop in Saigon and is run by the 2nd generation of the original family.  It is a VERY small shop and despite this, you can sit as long as you would like…they even bring you a glass of iced tea (jasmine tea) while you wait for your coffee.  All the coffee is made in the original method using a fabric filter.  The grounds are put in the filter and boiling hot water is poured over the grounds then “strong” coffee that had been brewed in the same method earlier is poured over the grounds making the coffee even stronger.  In spite of the coffee on top of coffee, the coffee is not bitter and is very smooth.  Vietnamese iced coffee is very popular and oh so good.  It is made with condensed milk and is the perfect sweetener…we’re definitely going to try when we get home.  Ted knows the owner so we were invited back to the “kitchen” where the magic happens.  There is an 85 year old “stove” that has coals to heat the water and keep the clay pots with coffee hot.  One of the 3 ladies that runs the coffee shop put my hand over one of the clay pots and you could feel the heat.  She then put my hand on the side of the pot and it was cool to the touch…crazy!

The War Remnants Museum was our next stop. I didn’t take many pictures here because most the exhibits were pretty graphic and we honestly didn’t want to spend much time looking at them.  Ted said this museum is also considered the museum of American war crimes.  While the war was controversial here and in the US and while Ted was just telling about the war from the Vietnamese perspective, I did not want to hear my Daddy called a war criminal.  Yes the effects of the war were bad for the people of Vietnam, they were also bad for the men and women of our military that were there because they were following orders.   

LuLu and I headed back to the hotel after the museum to chill out and relax for a little bit…it was so hot and humid (almost like Charleston in the August).  Just around the corner from the hotel is the “walking street” that is the happening spot in the evenings.  We wondered over after the sun went down to check it out.  There were all sorts of street performers and vendors…and teenage boys on roller boards. The area made for some great people watching for sure!  Our hotel is 2 blocks away and our room is on the 14th floor and we can hear all the action up here!

Since we know we are going to be going non-stop once the Viking program begins, we didn’t want to overdo it our first day.  We stopped into the lounge for what they call “pre-dinner” snacks…definitely what we would call dinner and nothing I’ve ever seen in any hotel lounge in the US.  They have a couple action stations, salads, cheeses, sushi, local foods on a buffet and desserts.  All in all a good first day and we look forward to checking out the local market and a few other things tomorrow.