Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, is a cosmopolitan blend of old and very new, the soaring Western style towers loom over the central business district, casting shadows on older storefronts and narrow streets. As in most cities n South East Asia, the streets are crowded with motorcycles and scooters. The Bitexco Financial Center is the focal point of the skyline. Shaped to resemble a closed lotus blossom, it has a heliport and a the Saigon Skydeck on the 49th floor. The Opera House, Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, and City Hall recall the period when Vietnam was a French colony.
These photographs include the War Remanants Museum, the Cu Chi Tunnels, and the prison in Hanoi built by the French but which became known as the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War.
The War Remnants Museum includes American military equipment, collection of photographs from renowned war photographers, the physical and genetic effects of agent orange, and the protests against the war around the world, including the US.
The Cu Chi tunnels were used by the Viet Cong forces fighting against the US and South Vietnamese armies both as staging grounds for attacks as well as shelter.
Between Saigon and the Mekong delta is one of several pagodas of the Cao Dai religion. The Cao Dai was formed in the 19th century and is a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. The temples are extremely colorful, with icons featuring images of persons form each of the religions. There are approximately 300,000 people in Vietnam who practice Cao Dai.
The Mekong Delta is the fertile area where the Mekong River flows into the East Sea. It is where a large amount of the country's rice and rd tropical fruit are produced. We visited a brick factory, a coconut processing plant, and had lunch in a beutiful restaurant on the banks of a tributary of the Mekong River.
Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). The tomb of the emperor Tu Duc, an expansive complex of buildings, is the creation of an emperor obsessed with creating a lasting memorial. His subjects were unhappy over the amout he spent on his tomb. An apology from the emperor, carved in stone, stands in the tomb complex. The Citadel, another vast collection of buildings, was the home of the emperors. It was heavily damaged during the Vietnam War, but is slowly being restored. A few miles away from the city is the Thien Mu Pagoda, a Buddhist temple which was the home of the monk who in 1963 drove to Saigon and immolated himself in protest over the South Vietnamese government's effort to for conversion to Catholicism.
The Hai Van Pass is the road south from Hue to Da Nang. It crosses a mountain range. Most of the photos were taken from inside the bus. Just north of Da Nang is an abandoned US bunker from the Vietnam War.
Hoi An is an old town about 45 minutes from Da Nang. It was the focal point of trade between Vietnamese and Chinese, Japanese, and Portugese. The city has influences of all three. The Japanese Covered Bridge once connected the parts of the town where Japanese and Chinese traders would live for extended periods. A Cantonese Chinese temple is still active, with many offerings from congregants. Hoi An also has dozens of tailor shops, which can make clothing in less than 24 hours. We took a cooking class the the Red Bridge Cooking School, which included a tour of the Hoi An Market.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, Halong Bay is a collection of about 3,000 small protruding islands. Only monkeys and birds live on the islands. It is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
On many of the islands in Halong Bay there are caverns created by the wind and water.
The capital of Vietnam, Hanoi is an ancient city, with a twentieth century feel but transforming into the present. We stayed in the old town, near what used to be known as the old quarter. Now known as the Ho Chi Minh quarter, it houses the Ho Chi Minh masoleum, the Presidential palace, and many older French buildings now used as either government offices, embassies, or restaurants. In the middle of the city is Ho Kiem Lake (the Lake of the Restored Sword), named for an ancient myth of an emperor recovering a sword lost in battle. The Temple of Literature houses the oldest university in Vietnam, which started classes in the 15th century and continued through the 16th century. It has stone monuments inscribed with the names of graduates of every class during that 200 year period.
