Ho Chi Minh City by land March 15 - March 17, 2025

 March 15, 2025 we boarded a bus in My Tho to take us to Ho Chi Minh City where we stayed at Park Hyatt Saigon.  The name from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh city was made official in 1976 but you see "Saigon" all over the city.

Arriving in the morning since our rooms were not ready we toured the city.  First stop was to visit Reunification Palace.  It was once a symbol of the South Vietnam government and home of the Republic of Vietnam's (South Vietnam) president.  April 30, 1975 communist tanks rolled into Saigon and crashed through the iron gates of the Palace.  A soldier immediately ran up to the 4th floor and unfurled the Viet Cong flag.  It is, even now, illegal for anyone to have or display a Republic of Vietnam flag.

                                        A picture of the tank crashing through the gate.

          It is now preserved as a museum with furnishings as it was when the South Vietnam Palace

                                                            Minister's cabinet room

                                                                     Banquet Chamber

Picture of a banquet held by Nguyen Cao Ky, President of the Central Executive  Committee on the occasion of Army Day, June 19, 1967
 

General Nguyen Cao Ky receiving the future US President Richard Nixon April 15, 1967

                                                        Ambassadors Chambers

                                            Courtyard of the President's living facilities

                                                    President's family dining area

                                                          President's bedroom 

                                                                Down to the Bunker

 

                                                    The President's bed in the bunker

                                                         Back upstairs to the kitchen

Next stop was the famous Central Post Office that was built by Gustave Eiffel in the late 19th-century European style.

Inside the post office I got in line to buy stamps so I could send post cards / letters to my grandchildren but the line was too big and our group was leaving.  

Phone booths lined both sides as you entered the post office.  They no longer have phones - just a relic of the past.

                        Chung had a picture of the US CIA office in Saigon as they were evacuating!

 

We went to a tile place where they made beautiful inlaid tiles.  Some were inlay with egg shells and mother of pearl.

                                        I am so so sad I did not buy any!!!  What was I thinking????

That night after a delicious group dinner a group of us went to the bar on top of the hotel across the street from ours where journalists spent evenings when covering the war.  

March 16, 2025 I made the bad decision not to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels.  Chung, our guide, really was negative in explaining it:  "1 hour 45 minute bus ride;  make sure you have bug spray because there are tons of bugs; the tunnels are really low that you have to go in on your hands and knees"  That last one made the decision for me with my achy knees.  But when Priscilla and Phil returned that said it was nothing like what Chung presented.  So I spent the day reading on line about the tunnels the Viet Cong built that really helped them win the war.   American soldiers that were called "Tunnel Rats" went into the tunnels to try to wipe out the Viet Cong.  

 The tunnels contained various bamboo traps made by the Viet Cong to injure and potentially kill South Vietnam's tunnel rats if they breached the tunnels. The tunnels also contained ventilation shafts to release smoke from fire and any poisonous gases pumped into the tunnels by the American GIs.

That afternoon we had a fabulous farewell lunch at Hoa Tuc Saigon Restaurant, a Michelin star restaurant.  

The rest of the day was open to explore the city.  Priscilla and I decided on spa treatments.  We got the best leg/foot massage, pedicure and manicure!!  

                                            And another adorable child was outside the salon:

 March 17, 2025 we got up and got a bus at 4 AM to go to the airport on the first leg home.  

It was a fantastic trip!!!  Thank you Uniworld for this adventure!!