We start our morning with breakfast at the hotel and then head off for our rounds of selected stops.
Ian stays downstairs while we run to our rooms to grab what we need for the day—he clearly expected us to be gone longer, because this is what we found when we came downstairs.
First stop Independence Palace. It was the former home of the President of South Vietnam during the war, and it remains frozen in time.
this was actually the most impressive room with the Japanese lacquer. The desk at the end of the room was gorgeous.
This was the cabinet room.
Then we went downstairs to the communications center. So high tech.
Notice the pass through circle to pass along intelligence to the next room.
The complete kitchen was downstairs too, we think Ian’s mom could use this for her Christmas cookies.
And finally we passed the shooting range on our way out.
On the grounds are some war relics.
Now on to the war museum. But on the way we pass a street vendor and pretty soon he is having the guys test his “burden” and before I knew it Ian had bought a coconut drink.
I really don’t know what to say about the war museum other than the perspective presented was so one sided and offensive we couldn’t even complete it and it felt so wrong having paid to go in. It was completely slanted against the Americans and had all kinds of depictions of the protests of our involvement from around the world. It was as sobering as visiting Auschwitz.
That’s Ian and Yvonne checking out the planes.
I am the including this map to ask my brother-in-law Bill where he served when he was in Vietnam.
nothing else we saw is worthy of publishing.
So now we are hot and miserable – and upset by the presentation (or at least the parts we could stomach). Time to move on.
On to the Jade Pagoda, but Ian makes it clear he isn’t interested in being pressured to buy any jade. We explain to him it isn’t a shopping experience. But first we need more Vietnamese dong and a quick stop at the hotel. Again Ian convinces us that he will wait for us in the lobby…..and yes, he’s imbibing without us again…but we will catch up.
And now we are off again – headed to the Jade Palace.
And now we will walk the 4 or 5 miles back to the hotel. We work our way to the Saigon River where we can view the massive construction along with the litter waste in the river.
and more high tech wiring
And we are done in , time to relax by the pool before cleaning up for dinner. Don’t we look exhausted!
A little rest by the pool – very little – and time to clean up for dinner.
We chose a rooftop bar at the Sheraton for the view. We actually just shared a couple of appetizers and had a drink.
We ended the evening with a walk through some of the stores are open. So I did get a little pool time and a little shopping time and over 22,000 steps.
Tomorrow we head for our river cruise.
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