Day 14 - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
After taking an early flight from Danang (the airport is the old US military base) to Ho Chi Minh city we started touring with a visit to Chinatown, a Chinese Temple and a large market. After lunch at a French restaurant we got settled in the Continental Hotel, the place where Graham Green stayed while writing "The Quiet American." A little walking tour of the local area was then in order.
Han placed a wish for good luck for us on the top of the incense coil and the coil will burn for more than a week.
Here's the crowded market
And here's what they sell inside
Now doesn't this beat the standard hearse
The French built this church to resemble Notre Dame
They built this post office to resemble the train station in Paris
While the North of the country still has its slow pace and cultural roots, Saigon is very Western
We visited a laquer factory to see how the Vietnamese do their unique egg shell process
The opera house is surrounded by new buildings
There are lots of hotel choices in the central city
View from the rooftop bar of the Majestic
The famous Rex Hotel, with its rooftop bar which played an important role in Demille's "Up Country"
The Continental
