SaiGon (Ho Chi Minh City)
VietNam Tourism failed to meet us, so we grabbed a cab for the Saigon Star Hotel near what was the Presidential Palace, which opened while I was here in 1966. Arriving at the hotel, we discovered that we were not expected until the next day. Welcome to VietNam. John and I had the rest of the day to ourselves, so we walked around the lovely Cong Vien Van Hoa Park, with its large lovely Diptherocapus trees and flowers. We admired the wide, tree lined boulevards and walked past the French Colonial buildings, many falling into ruin. People were friendly. Streets are clean, but teeming with bicycles and motor bikes. The energy level is tremendous. How is it different? The hotels are there: the Rex; the Majestic; the Metropole; and the Continental, where I spent a night with an armed VietNamese guard outside my door. I remember not being too sure of him at the time.Â
Tu Do Street has a new name, Dong Khoi Street. Most streets have new names. Instead of bicycles, most people seem to have motor bikes now. There are 2 million of them in the city and they provide a river of movement. It is impossible to wait for a break in the traffic in order to walk across any street. There is no break, since no one stops when entering any intersection. One just looks straight ahead and steps into the river of movement and it parts around you as you walk steadily across the street. How else is it different here from 33 years ago? Then there were wire screens over every doorway to keep grenades out and every corner had a sand bag fortification with machine guns. It was a fortified city then. Now all that is gone and there has emerged this very nice, busy city. Isn't peace grand? Walking in the darkness, we saw a cyclo and rider slowly approaching down the street. This most menial of tasks is about as high as old soldiers from the South are allowed to do. The rider was an older looking man who did his task with quiet dignity. As he passed us by, he silently gave me a military salute. John's Lonely Planet book rated one restaurant nearby as having great food at great prices. That sounded like a winner, so we walked through a rain storm right to it. Arriving very wet, we were met in an open cabana and given a menu full of meats such as Porcupine, Rabbit, Mule, Venison, Eel, Snake, and Chicken feet and beaks. I got beef; John got Rabbit. We had a charcoal fire in the middle of the table and we enjoyed ourselves cooking our own. VietNam Tourism still didn't know we where there. The dates and times had been hopelessly messed up. That gave us the opportunity to get the feel of the place on our own. We ate breakfast in our hotel looking out on a bright, sunny day. It was rush hour, and the streets were teeming with those 2 million motor bikes and about 3 automobiles. There were no trucks to be seen. On they came, on and on, an endless army of fairly well-dressed people, often 3 or 4 to a bike. Many of the women wear the beautiful AuDai native costume, which had been outlawed for many years, but is now making a come-back. It falls gracefully from their thin frames. I remember it well from the old days, when it was universal in the better parts of VietNamese society. As happens whenever we gave folks a chance, our waiter began conversation in a very friendly way. "I do not believe you are Australians," he said. We told him, Americans. His face lit up. They seem very happy to see us here. Winning the war is a source of great pride. They exhibit no animosity toward former US Soldiers. Former ARVN Soldiers are another story.The City - once again
