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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

This is the last day of our trip. We spent it walking around Saigon and stopping at various sites. We started the day at the botanical gardens and zoo. There were lots of families and groups of preschool kids there with us. I had read before coming that the botanical gardens are good but the zoo is bad, so only go to the gardens portion. Well, all the signage was in Vietnamese so we just wandered here and there without any real direction. They do have a butterfly house and an orchid house (most of the orchids were not blooming, which makes me feel better about mine at home!). The zoo part was sad…not the conditions we see at places like the Tulsa Zoo, but we did get a close face to face with a tiger. My favorite picture of the day.

Afterwards we went to the Museum of Vietnamese History. They have a number of archaeological artifacts, including some from Angkor Wat in Cambodia. They charged to take pictures, more than the entrance fee for the two of us, so I just snuck some iPhone pics which are on Facebook. It was a decent, but small, museum.

We decided we wanted to walk to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. Now, walking in Saigon is a bit of an adventure in and of itself. The traffic is crazy, not following any obvious traffic laws. Motor scooters regularly go the wrong direction, drive on the wrong side of the street, drive on the sidewalks, etc. Crossing the street is loads of fun. Basically you look for a tiny lull in traffic and then walk straight in to what remains. The cars and motor scooters go around you as you cross. To get to the Jade Pagoda, we had to cross a major street…and cross it again coming back.

The Jade Emperor Pagoda was built by Chinese in the early 1900s as a Taoist temple, but now also has many Buddhists worshipping there. The place is full of incense. Full. It hangs in the air and makes bright streaks in the sunlight. Very interesting place. It was busy with many worshipers while we were there.

We went for some good ol’ McDonalds for lunch. It was nice to have a taste of home. It also sheltered us from a very brief rain.

After lunch we walked to the Bitexco Tower. This is the tallest building in Saigon…68 floors. The first few floors are a high-end mall and a movie theater. The rest is an office building. On the 51-52nd floors there is a bar where you can get a 360 degree view of Saigon. That is where we went. The view was great, but it was a bit cloudy this afternoon (and rained while we were up there). We could see basically all of the local sights we have been to over the last 2 days. They have a helicopter pad on this floor as well, but, from what I’ve read I don’t think it has ever been used.

We walked back towards our hotel, stopping at the Notre Dame Cathedral to go inside. It was closed when we went by yesterday. It is understated compared to most European cathedrals, but was nice inside. We also walked down a quaint alley that was lined with bookstores.

Now we are packing up. Our shuttle to the airport leaves at 11:30 pm tonight. We fly from here to Shanghai to Seoul to Dallas to Tulsa.

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