September 4, 2008
Good Morning, Vietnam!

Part of our Bong Sen package was free breakfast. It was a pleasant surprise to find the breakfast fare filling. There were the staples of bread, eggs, bacon and fresh fruits. There was dragon fruit aplenty. Ernest mentioned that the banana tasted like peanut butter, but I didn’t get it.

After the mandatory morning rituals, we set out for the day to take our own city tour. We had printed out maps to guide our way and got to the Central Post Office without a hitch. Crossing the street in Vietnam is something that travel articles/blogs mention often. With so many motorbikes zipping around the city, it’s important to look before you cross. While crossing, one should just keep on walking straight as the locals do since the motorbike riders take note of the pedestrians and avoid them. Suddenly stopping in the middle of the street because of fear increases the chances of an accident.

Vietnam was colonized by the French, and so many of their tourist spots and government buildings are characterized by French architecture. The Central Post Office with its oft-photographed ceiling is one such building. It’s exactly what its name implies. There are plenty of booths inside which take care of mailing and package transfer needs. There are also phone booths with clocks showing the times in different major cities in the world. There are also two huge wall murals of Vietnam and the Mekong River Delta across each other. As CPO has become a tourist spot, there is also a counter selling souvenirs.

Across CPO along the Cong Xa Paris area is the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, which is a small-scale replica of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Mass is supposed to be celebrated in English, Vietnamese, and French. There was no mass ongoing when we arrived, and the gate to the pews was closed. It was still a lovely feeling to be in a beautiful church though.

We thought we were making good time in our city tour when we got lost because of my mistake. I like to think that it was fate and Murphy’s Law. We had walked quite a distance in hot and humid weather only for me to later realize that because of an idiotic visual trick, I had read the words Saigon Center to be War Remnants Museum. No wonder people looked befuddled when we asked them where the War Remnants Museum was. We salvaged the situation by taking a breather in one of the more popular and ubiquitous coffee chains in HCMC, Highlands Coffee. Gene ordered a cold drink while the others had ice cream and juice. We were forbidden to take pictures, and the waiters were vigilant in spotting us attempting to do so. The space was big, with posters in brick walls, wide glass windows, comfortable sofas and chairs, Wi-Fi access—all the hallmarks of a coffee shop. The setup though was not pay first then eat. The waiters served the table and were unusually slow. After we had constantly followed up on Melissa’s ice cream order, they told us that the flavor was unavailable. They didn’t know that particular info five minutes after they took the order?!

After refreshing and resting, we proceeded to go to the Reunification Palace, HCMC’s former presidential palace. We first found a side entrance where we were directed to the main entrance. The directions were wrong since we had scaled the block’s entire long perimeter before we found the entrance. Despite the exhaustion and the getting-lost- twice-in-a-row, we could only laugh at ourselves. We decided to have lunch at Quan An Ngon right across the Palace, but finding that proved to be a challenge as well. We got lost walking around and even realized that the Reunification Palace’s main entrance was separated from the Notre Dame Cathedral by only a park! Oh well, learnings, learnings. Some of us wanted to settle, but Melissa continued on undeterred to find Quan An Ngon and when she finally did, we could all see the look of joy on her face.

Quan An Ngon (Ngon to locals) is a busy restaurant which gathered Vietnam’s street food in one place. There is an open air seating area where one can see the food being cooked. Those seated inside like us can also walk around to see the food on offer. The cooking area occupies the perimeter with ingredients and cooking ware laid out. We had researched some must-eats which we quickly picked out of the menu like rice porridge with fried eel and banh xeo (rice-flour crepe stuffed with pork, bean sprouts and shrimp), The rest were recommendations from the manager and our energetic waiter. We also discovered that sapodilla shake was actually chico shake. I remember eating a lot of chico when I was younger. I wonder why we stopped having chico at home. Ernest had the iced tea which was more tea with ice than the sweet version we have in restaurants everywhere in Manila.

We ordered a lot and the service was fast for a restaurant filled to capacity. The food was mostly good, filling, and worth our 75,000 dong each. I don’t even remember the misses except for an odd dessert which was rice balls drunken in really strong wine. We also had a Vietnamese halo-halo with tapioca strips, coconut, and milk. Veggies and various sauces are integral parts of a Vietnamese meal as we would first experience in Ngon. Wet tissue was also provided but not for free. We later saw the napkins reflected in our bill at 2000 dong each. It was good that our first lunch was yummy. Thanks to research!

Inside the Palace, a woman approached us and asked if we wanted to join a free hour-long tour along with other visitors. Our guide Tram wore royal blue ao dai, Vietnam’s national dress. We were first led to an auditorium on the ground floor for a short history and to take our picture with a bust of Uncle Ho. There were a lot of trivia shared during the tour. Tram also pointed out that some of the chandeliers were shaped like flowers (lotus, rose, lily) although I wasn’t able to catch the significance. She tried to inject some humor to the stories, but I guess it was hard for the audience to get into it since it was a long tour and the place had no AC. She was very patient though.

We walked around the banquet halls, war rooms, gambling room, first lady’s receiving room, presidential office with secret stairway to a safe room in the basement and three different- colored telephones (for wife, mistress, and best friend—how true?), map rooms, and many other rooms. There were two floors of living quarters for the First Family on the second floor that by some architectural design made one feel like one was the ground floor. Everything was basically reconstructed with markings on where the bombs fell and the like. A couple of banquet and meetings rooms are rented out and used up to today. There were also on display supposedly real elephant feet. At the top was an area for entertaining where we were given a few minutes to rest. At the bar was a concession stand selling drinks. The Palace’s wide windows had curved panels outside to filter the sun. There were two basements for hiding out and secret war planning. The narrow corridors and standard gray paint made one think of espionage and war. The rooms were small, had no doors and no numbers to identify them. The hallways all looked the same, and I thought of how easy it was to get claustrophobic in there.

The tour ended at the kitchen where Tram promptly thanked us and graciously pointed out the exit. I must say that I was surprised at how there wasn’t any attempt to ask for tips. When she said the tour was free, it really was! The Reunification Palace wasn’t all that interesting as we were taking the tour, but I do appreciate and admire the effort and thought they put into presenting the place. The whole tour was a sample of what good tourism is all about.

We then walked on for about 15 minutes to our next destination, the War Remnants Museum (entrance fee: 15,000 dong). The museum showed the atrocities and aftereffects of the Vietnam War on the country. Although Vietnam defeated the Americans, there was much destruction, devastation, and lingering ill-effects that continue on today. There were pictures of brutality—American GIs with mangled bodies, Vietnamese with abnormal body parts due to Agent Orange (biochemical weapon) exposure, fearful women and children about to be shot, and more—complete with captions and explanations to guide the readers. There was also a separate area on the compound where Tiger Cages (tiny prison cells) and a guillotine could be found. There were also pictures of emaciated people who couldn’t walk straight after they were freed since they had spent a lifetime in the Tiger Cages with only scraps of rice to eat and water to drink, never mind the concept of bathing.

We usually see the Vietnam War being represented in Hollywood by veterans who survived the horrors of ‘Nam and wear their experiences as a badge of courage. One can’t help but think of the other side of the picture, the one we don’t really see in popular culture while at the War Remnants Museum. The Vietnamese may have won the war, but the resulting sanctions and embargoes upon them have contributed significantly to delays in their progress. The War Remnants Museum was really very, very interesting. I couldn’t help reflecting on one statement of an American photographer. He asked the American GIs permission to take a picture of the women and children standing in fear. He took his shots, walked away, and didn’t look back when he heard shots. In what he did, was he displaying apathy to the situation or perhaps even sympathy by immortalizing the image and plight for the world to see? After all, he couldn’t have stopped the inevitable.

We took awhile to gather our energy and sat around the benches outside where helicopters and tanks were on display. We decided to take a cab to our next destination, Cho Ben Thanh (Ben Thanh Market), the famous HCMC marketplace. Taxi flag down rates are at 12,000 dong for sedan cabs and 15,000 dong for van cabs. The increment is VND 3,000 for each km thereafter. The big Taxi Vinasun cabs had the best AC and could sit 6 comfortably. We arrived at our destination without even moving from the flag down rate. We entered through the back entrance where the market was. Towards the front were the clothes, knickknacks, and lacquerware that Vietnam is famous for. We couldn’t appreciate the place and so only spent a short time looking around since we weren’t really looking for souvenirs.

With the low cost of taxis and minimal heavy traffic, we realized that taking taxis everywhere would be for the best for the rest of our stay. So we took a taxi to the nearby Pham Ngu Lao backpacker’s area to book our tours for the next two days at Sinh Café. Pham Ngu Lao and its side streets, particularly De Tham Street overflowed with tourists and street vendors. Sinh Café was also packed with tourists booking tours. In Sinh Café, one can book a tour today and go tomorrow. They do not accept reservations online, and payments have to be made in advance. They have booklets (French, English, Vietnamese) listing the tours they offer all around Vietnam and even to Cambodia. Some tours have lunch. All tours have transportation and English-speaking tour guides covered. The best thing about Sinh Café is the affordability of its tours. We joined two tours- Cao Dai Temple/Cu Chi Tunnels and Cai Be/Vinh Long Mekong River Tour—which cost us only 295,000 dong each total. The second tour even had lunch.

Based on our itinerary, we were supposed to go to some of the malls in the city for shopping. We ended up hailing a cab to proceed to dinner at Ton That Thiep St. We couldn’t figure out where Temple Club was so we asked the cab to stop at Fanny Ice Cream. Melissa spotted a small sign above an unmarked doorway next to Fanny Ice Cream, and there Temple Club was. Angelina Jolie Connection Number One: Angelina and Brad were supposed to have dined in this fancy restaurant/lounge serving Vietnamese-French food. The lighting is reddish-dim and the interior is shabby chic gone upscale. It reminded me of a smoking club—old world, discreet and elegant.

them we would be out of their hairs by 6:30PM. It was only 5PM but for those with Filipino body clocks, it was already 6PM, just in time for dinnertime. Pictures were not allowed to be taken unless there was a person in the frame. Are there many interior design copycats in HCMC? One can just as well have someone pretend to be standing in the frame while one takes a picture of the interiors. I don’t understand the”No picture-taking” rule.

We ordered the Appetizer Platter which consisted of 4 kinds of spring rolls, La Vong Style Fish (popular style in Hanoi), Duck in Orange Sauce, Fried Rice, and 2 chicken and pork viands. Service was fairly quick and non-intrusive. They didn’t make us feel like we needed to hurry. The washroom had a romantic gothic feel with red interiors, a bronze iron sink and handles, and ornately-designed mirror. While not extraordinary, the food was delicious and filling. Part of the 1.050.000 dong bill was really the ambience. Before leaving, we took a peek at their bar/lounge area where people sat with their laptops, reading or chatting quietly. People were starting to arrive when we left. We also took the opportunity to take some pictures along their entrance which was lighted and designed for maximum photo-enhancing effect.

We then went back to Fanny Ice Cream where we ordered a fondue dessert with fruits and 16 mini ice cream scoops with a variety of flavors— young rice, Bailey’s, straciatella (gelato similar to chocolate chip), banana, ginger, vanilla, coffee and chocolate. The night was quite young so we decided to explore our environs more. We easily found a mall which name escapes me now that had a Mango (Prices were in USD and were more expensive than in Manila.) and more importantly, a grocery. Shoplifting must be a common occurrence in groceries since we were required to leave our things in a locker and only very small bags like K and Nikki’s sling bags were allowed inside. Guards also roamed everywhere. In another grocery where we weren’t able to leave our things, guards were following us around not-so-discreetly. Harassment much?