We left Pnomh Penh for Vietnam December 27th and immediately noticed a difference in the scenery as we drove through the country to Saigon. It was much cleaner in that there was less trash along the road and storefronts, and things seemed a bit newer. It makes sense since it seems that Vietnam is more of a developing country and Cambodia is still a third-world country. Even from the window of the bus, it appeared there was more infrastructure in place in Vietnam.

This became more true as we got closer to Saigon and our hotel – modern buildings, new cars, wide boulevards and pristine parks popped up everywhere. We were ready to explore the city!

Our hotel, the Asian Ruby 4, was the nicest of all of the hotels on our stay, with a large room and bathroom. Very comfortable for us and a refreshing change from our hotel in Pnomh Penh.

Note: We were informed that while the official name of the city is Ho Chi Minh City, most everyone still calls it Saigon, especially in the city center where we were staying.

We pretty much ended up in transit the entire day, arriving at our hotel around 5.30pm and then meeting for a final group dinner at 6.45. We headed over to the city’s backpacker street that was similar to the pub street in Siem Reap, but larger. Dyka took us to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was a little strange, but they offered local food in additional to tacos so everyone was happy.

I stuck with a simple quesadilla as I was still feeling a little nervous after the food poisoning, but Sean got a traditional Vietnamese pancake call banh xeo (picture below).

As this was our last night with the group, we all said our goodbyes when we got back to the hotel. Some were adventuring on with another Intrepid tour, while many – us included –  were venturing off separately. We had such an amazing time with everyone. It’s always great to know people all around the world when you travel – and social media makes it so easy to keep in touch!

After breakfast the next morning, we headed out to see the War Remnants museum. Our taxi driver took us to the wrong location – I knew because I’d seen pictures – and at first didn’t believe us. He wasn’t rude, just confused. To our surprise, he asked someone working at the Reunification Hall (where he’d taken us) and they confirmed that the museum was at a different address. 

When we arrived, I offered him a bit less money since he’d taken us to the wrong place, and he was completely agreeable – even going so far as to say it had been his fault. Quite an encouraging experience in a foreign country, I’d say!

I had no real idea what to expect from the museum so I was pretty stunned to see just how much military stuff we’d left behind. Tanks, helicopters, jets, grenades, guns, etc. – and I’m sure this was just a sample. It was strange to see these things up close and personal and read about all their different uses with the same aim – killing the “enemy.” It was deeply disturbing to then think about how much money we spend to build things to kill each other. 🙁

We also had to see the museum from the other side in order to understand it. Before our involvement, South Vietnam had been a French colony, with Ho Chi Minh trying to win it back to reunite the country. Indeed, that is the perspective that permeates the museum – the American War that they won to reunite their country.

Pushing the American version of the war that we had learned in school out of the way, we explored the museum further, checking out the section devoted to the forms of torture deployed by the U.S. and their allies. Tiger Cages were a major focus – they would place multiple men in each cage and leave them in the hot sun. Can you imagine? 

The inside of the museum was centered around photography – photographs they don’t show us in the States! From propaganda posters and international materials calling for the US to get out of Vietnam to soldiers conducting water torture and spraying Agent Orange, the museum covered the horrific war in great detail. I will likely do a separate post with more photos and commentary, but I’ll say now that it was devastating to see this so soon after The Killing Fields and know that the West can be just as violent and cruel.

After leaving the museum, we decided to head over to Reunification Hall. On the way, Sean was stopped by a man selling coconuts and let Sean carry them. Made for a great pic, but it was a scam as he tried to sell us two, the second one at an exorbitant price, even though we only wanted one. I kinda freaked out a bit and he scurried off – hey, I get nervous!

Sean and I in front of the Reunification Hall. Our tickets cost about $1 each and were welll worth it. 😉 This building is an incredible display of mid-century modern architecture and decor, as well as an eerie tribute to the opulence of the government during the war.

We loved all the design details inside, as well as reading the history of each room. Many were meeting rooms for important government officials, such as Henry Kissinger, and the foreign diplomats and ambassadors were often hosted here as well.

Guests arrived via helicopter on the roof!

The hall had a huge kitchen, shooting range, theatre, game room, apartments, cars/garages, meeting rooms, offices and extensive grounds. See the album at the bottom of this post for more photos. It was truly impressive to see the entire place in its original state!

We grabbed lunch at a random restaurant and I had a delicious bun thit nuong – shredded pork over vermicelli (rice) noodles. So good. I had a guava juice and Sean had a watermelon juice – fresh and yummy.

The restaurant was conveniently across the street from another destination on our list: Ben Thanh Market. This huge complex was filled with stalls offering souvenirs and trinkets, clothes, coffee and tea, sweets, luggage, fresh produce, fish and more! It was lively and loud and colorful….and a little overwhelming after a few minutes.

I like to just browse and feel things to compare textures, weight, size, etc. but I was bombarded by the shop owners as soon as I turned my gaze to something on their tables. Argh! This made me leave, not buy! I finally told them I wanted to LOOK first, but I’ll admit it only helped a bit and we were in and out pretty fast after scoring some gifts for family.

We walked around after the market and stopped in a local coffee shop for a drink and some wifi access. I’ll admit I hadn’t missed the internet as much as I thought I would up to this point, and I realized how much more time I would have to do activities and hobbies if I wasn’t always online. Pretty sad – all those minutes glancing at the device add up quickly over the course of a day!

We walked around after having our caffeine fix and watched the city lights come on as the sun began to set. All around Saigon there are beautiful and ornate light pieces and scenes suspended above the streets. It looks vibrant and magical and we couldn’t get enough! Every corner we turned yielded a new look. 

And the motorbikes were everywhere – in a city of about 8 million people, there are around 6 million motorbikes! And they don’t really stop for pedestrians – the rule for crossing the street over there was simple: Don’t Stop. Don’t Run. Sean and I would clasp hands, look for a break in traffic and then walk straight across the street at an even pace, looking ahead as the motorbikes and cars sensed our pace and moved around us. It was such an adrenaline rush and a neat experience!

We found our way to a beer garden and were amazed at the sleek and beautiful space. The lager Bia Saigon was quite a bit better than the Angkor beer in Cambodia so Sean enjoyed one of those, while I had a Leffe Blonde – a beer I first enjoyed as a university student in London.

We used wifi at the beer garden (see Sean on his phone in the photo above!) to meet up with some folks from our tour group who were still in town. One of them suggested the Chill Skybar and while we weren’t dressed appropriately (there was a serious dress code!), they informed us we could stay until 8pm – which is when they enforce said dress code. 

Only one of our group ended up being able to meet us, but we had a nice time. The view was incredible and the bar/lounge was sleek and modern. We had some nice wines and a snack, and chatted about our upcoming plans in Vietnam.

After finishing our drinks, we grabbed our bags from the hotel, hopped in a taxi and headed to the train station to catch our overnight train to Nha Trang for the last leg of our honeymoon. I was nervous about the train but confident it was the best way to travel – while sleeping – to give us as much time at our destination as possible.

Uh….I may have been a little wrong about it. The train was old/grimy, the bathrooms were dingy, the beds uncomfortable, the ride rickety, and the train attendant in our carriage smoked. GROSS.

I realize this was an “authentic” experience for how the locals travel, but I wished we’d have booked a very early morning train and simply sat in train seats. I’d done the overnight train thing in Europe previously so the concept and experience wasn’t new, and the quality was much poorer here. Sean, however, loved the experience as it was new to him. 

I woke up about a half an hour before our arrival time with horrible motion sickness. While I’d been able to sleep for a few hours, it hadn’t prevented the nausea from all the rocking. I was sick, tired, dirty, sweaty, uncomfortable and ready to get off that train!

Next stop: brighter days in the beautiful beach city of Nha Trang!