Today was a free day so we got to do whatever we wanted. 12 out of 16 from the group decided to go on a 5hour tour to the Cu Chi tunnels but I decided to stay in Saigon and explore the city on my own!
I talked to at least 5 people about this trip and got a lot of good tips on what to do, where to eat, and what to skip. Blye recommended that I walk, walk, walk! So I did... Until I got a bunch of blisters!
My day started early with a quick breakfast and by 8:30 am I was out of the hotel. I decided to walk through the park that was in front of the hotel and it was an amazing experience.
Once I crossed the street I saw a whole lot of bird cages hanging and people sitting at tables and then I remembered that I had seen this before in the amazing race!!!!! People have their pet birds and they bring them to the park for singing competitions! Haha
I kept walking and saw a couple of guys practicing their sword movements , some others practicing boxing and something that looked like Tai Chi, and my favorite were the people who were doing movements with fans! So cool! I couldn't believe that it was 8:30am and so much was happening already!
My next stop was the independence palace. This is a beautiful palace where the president of south Vietnam lived during the Vietnam war.
The palace felt like going back in time, all furniture and accessories in the palace have been untouched for ages... Super cool to go back to the 60's!
I kept walking until I reached the Notre Dame Cathedral and the post office.
I've been amazed at how many Catholic Churches there are in Vietnam! This one in particular was really pretty!
Across the street was the post office, which is famous for its architecture and decor.
This is at one of the shops inside the post office:
Then I decided to keep walking towards the hotel area. On my way I found people selling really cool cards that seem to be typical of Vietnam; they are cut out images and when you open the card a figure pops out!
On my way to the caravelle hotel I passed a lot of high end stores such as Versace and Louis Vuitton! The interesting part was that right in front of them there were women selling coconut or waffles; I thought the contrast was very intense.
I went up to the rooftop of the caravelle hotel where I was able to see a beautiful view of Saigon despite the foggy day!
For lunch I decided to go to Ben Trang Market,the main market in the area.
Like all other markets they sell pretty much everything there! While I was walking I saw a group of young people eating seafood on the floor; I asked them if I could take a picture since it looked so good and it reminded me of the food we eat back home! I ended up sitting on the floor and eating with them! I thought it was so cool!
I kept walking and got to where all the food was, tons of places to choose from and no idea what they sell! Nobody speaks english at the market so it was very hard to communicate! At the end I ended up sitting where it was crowded and looked like seafood... I even asked a tourist what the food was and he said some kind of rice patties with shrimp dumplings!
I had been walking since 8:30 and now was 2pm and still had time to kill so I decided to take a local bus to Chinatown... I walked to the bus station across the street from the market and prayed to be getting on the right bus.
After about 30 mins I got to china town and to be honest I was a little disappointed! I somehow had this idea that I was going to a Chinatown like the one we have in SF, decorated and good looking! But not at all, it's called Chinatown mainly because all Chinese live there and there are a gazillion shops selling Chinese stuff.
I walked all around searching for Chua Ba Thien Hau pagoda. This was my first pagoda in Vietnam and to be honest I had no idea what to do! I felt extremely awkward... Should I be praying? Can I take pictures? Shoes on or off? Do I need to get incense? Do I have to pay?!? There wasn't anybody else to copy so I decided to just walk around and admire the beautiful place.
I spent a few hours walking around Chinatown and the most impressive was the market! It had the tiniest walk way!!! People, bikes, and motorbikes carrying huge bags had to accommodate so we could all walk! On the market you could find pretty much anything!!!
Here is a button shop:
Crossing the streets in Asian has been a totally new experience for me! In the US people stop, in El Salvador people speed up when they see you so you have yo wait until there is a big chunk of free space and here you just have to try to get through it in between cars and motorbikes!
Here's a girl in green shirt trying to cross:
After my 3rd coconut of the day I went back to the bus station and headed back to town and went for dinner at the Temple Club.
At night, Ho Chi Minh city looked FABULOUS!!! All the lights were up and the city had a special glow!
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