Saigon

The next December trip which I will chronicle is my adventure to the Mekong River delta in Cambodia and Vietnam with my old roommate from Omaha, Kyle. Kyle stopped in Singapore on his way back to London where he studying to take over the world at the London School of Economics. Our adventure began after a rowdy New Year's Eve in Singapore and a victorious Husker bowl victory. The latter was all that more sweeter since I was able to enjoy watching it with a fellow Husker fan - a rarity in Singapore.

Our journey began in Saigon (the communists named it Ho Chi Minh City after the war but Saigon sounds cooler, in my humble opinion). We arrived in good shape, found our guest house at the end of a weird narrow alley and started to explore. Later that evening we met up with one of Kyle's old coworkers, Dan, from Omaha who moved with his family from Vietnam almost 20 years ago and was just visiting his home for the first time since then. Dan also hooked us up with one of his friends, Calvin, who also is a native but has since moved to the US and became an American citizen. Between these two guys and their nieces and nephews, we were given as full of a tour of the city as one can get in two days!!

View Saigon in a larger map

Below are a few of the main pictures from our escapades around Saigon. The rest can be found HERE.

The war remnants museum from the Vietnam War was one of the most fascinating places that we visited. It was essentially the Viet Cong's propaganda-filled account of how the war went down. There were numerous references to the "War of American" aggression and the "Liberation Armies" march towards Saigon. After the war, the city was renamed after the father of Vietnamese Communism, Ho Chi Minh.

This is our tour guide group - the nephews and nieces of Dan and Calvin. They showed us around and helped us understand the culture and we helped them practice their English.

An example of the prominently posted quotes which filled a majority of the museum.

Some less than pleasant descriptions and photos of what war can do.

"Reunification Palace" aka the Presidential Palace of the old South Vietnam

The President's Conference Room

The helicopter pad on the roof that was utilized during the Fall of Saigon

And now for some entertaining videos from our adventure in Saigon. The first one gives an example of the RIDICULOUSly crazy moto traffic that can be encountered in Vietnam and the other is an amazing Vietnamese BBQ meal which we shared in our first night in town.