 |
| Bun Rieu |
 |
| More Bun Rieu |
 |
| The Opera House in District 1 |
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral |
Well after 6 years I’m finally back in Saigon. Man has this place changed. The economic boom that swept over Vietnam during the past decade has transformed the face of Saigon. It’s a thriving cosmopolitan city of some 8 million people. The streets are filled with a strange conglomeration of the old and the new. Sparkling new cars drive past old Vietnamese ladies with cone hats, while business suit clad locals sit on tiny plastic stools eating street food next to a brand new office building. Poor sun weathered kids try to sell candy and lotto tickets to beautiful young women drenched in jewelry and the latest designer fashions. Vietnam in general, and Saigon in particular, has rushed into the modern world at frenetic almost frantic pace. This city pulses with a life of its own.
 |
| Notre Dame |
We didn’t spend too much time in Saigon but we were their long enough to soak up some sights. We saw Notre Dame (which was built by the French as a smaller version of the original), walked through Reunification Palace (the former seat of government for the Americans and South Vietnamese), and saw the war through the Vietnamese perspective via the graphic exhibitions of the War Remnants Museum. We explored the narrow alleyways of Pham Ngu Lao (the backpackers area) and marveled at how few traffic accidents there are, which is particularly amazing when you consider how maddeningly thick and dense the traffic is. But mostly, Saigon was more of a jumping off point for our trip to Thailand and back to the Mekong Delta. Never the less, Saigon is a lovely city.
 |
| Local School Girl |
 |
| Reunification Palace |
 |
| War Remnants Museum |
No comments:
Post a Comment