Monday, January 22, 2018

Ho chi Minh city /Saigon City tour....day 14

 Another early start for a tour of the City, we were joined by six other people and our  guide, Hang. Our first stop of the day was at the impressive Reunification Palace, the working and administrative building of the old South Vietnamese government. The tanks that smashed through the Palace gates in the early 70's are still in the grounds.











Our second second stop was at the famous old Post office building built by the French in the late nineteenth century, it's still a working Post office today.

Right across the road is the Notre Dame cathedral, this is beautiful building but sadly it was closed for restoration.










We then went to the War remnants museum dedicated to Vietnam' s war against the USA.  Of course, there is the well know display of captured American military harware in the grounds including   tanks and helicopters.








 







But it is the inside of the museum that really brings home the horrific loss that this country suffered.
This is a very sobering experience with some very graphic photographs and personal stories of the victims of that conflict. We learnt a great deal from this visit some of which was difficult to digest, it was quite moving.

In the evening we made our way over to the Saigon Opera house to see the production of the OA show, a cross between dance, drum, drama, ballet and Comedy. We then have a lovely meal at the Saffron Bistro around the corner from the theatre.


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