Tuesday March 5 Saigon

This is our day for the stroll down memory lane.  The street names have changed, but we are hopeful of finding two of the three houses in which we lived during our stay in the 60s.  We don’t look for the third house, because we don’t remember the address.

When we lived here before, it seemed like a long way between our house on Cong Ly and the downtown area.  But on our way from the airport yesterday, we figured it was walking distance.

Armed with our passports for the attempt to cash traveler checks later, we head out.  Our first stop is to be the house on the street that used to be named Cong Ly.  We make our way through the morning traffic.

Morning traffic

Because the numbers have not changed, we find our address, 193/6A.  Our house is now an import company. 

 Sign on gate of our former house

The security guards at the house don’t mind us taking pictures, so we get several.

Our former house

 

As we head to our next destination, we get a good glimpse of modern day Ho Chi Minh City’s electric infrastructure.  We have been told that if someone loses power, they just string another line.  It’s certainly less trouble than figuring out which wire is the problem. 

Keeping the lights on?

Our next quest is to find our house on the street that used to be called Tu Duc.  When we lived there, it was close to the radio station.  Because of the location, any time there was a coup, we would get an early warning, as the radio station was the first target to be seized.

We find a TV tower, and assume this is the old radio station.  After wandering aimlessly, we realize the TV tower is not where the radio station used to be.

Finally, we find the radio station and start going up and down the streets in the area.  We find a street with the right numbering system for our old house.  When we get to the correct address, there is a large building.  Our house has been replaced.

Office building that replaced our house

 

Next door to the building with our old address, is a house.  This is the same house which was next to the one in which we lived.  So we know we have found the right place.

The house next door - looks familiar

 

We start back in the general direction of downtown, looking for a place to eat.  We find a local restaurant where we get a good Vietnamese style lunch.  As we continue our journey, we pass a KFC. 

Encroaching American culture

 

Another of our memory lane targets is the US Consulate.  Ken thinks this is the location of the US Embassy, built after the one he had worked in was bombed. 

We find the consulate, but it is surrounded by a high wall.  We don’t get a view of anything beyond the wall.  I get a picture of the consulate from the outside. 

 

American Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City

 

Ken tries to get a picture, but is waved off by a security guard.  This just inspires him to try to get a picture, which he does two days later.

Since we have found our old houses and the consulate, we next head to the presidential palace, which is now a museum.

Former South Vietnamese Presidential Palace

 

We get our tickets, and go in.  We arrive just in time for a tour.  The guide shows us several of the rooms in the palace.

Old Presidential Office

 

Reception Room - considered most beautiful room in palace

 

One of the rooms we see is the war room, used by South Vietnamese presidents during the war.   Among the relics in the war room is an old American issue government desk.

 War Room with US Government surplus desk

On the grounds of the palace are two tanks.  These are similar to the ones that arrived at the palace on April 30, 1975, thus ending the Vietnam war.

Tank on display

 

After our visit to the palace, we head once more to a bank to cash traveler checks.  At the bank, after presenting his passport, the clerk asks Ken to sign a blank piece of paper.  She declares the signature does not match the one on the traveler checks.  Another bank employee thinks the signatures match, but he is overruled.

The clerks suggest we try another bank.  At the other bank, we are told they need the purchase receipt for the traveler checks, in addition to the passport.  We don’t have that with us.  So, we do the ATM thing, and become rich once more. 

We have dinner that night at an outdoor Vietnamese BBQ restaurant.  There is a propane cooking surface in the middle of the table, and we cook our own meal.  

Ken at dinner

 

After dinner, we go downtown.  There is a modern building there called Vincom Center. There is a sign indicating there is a mall here, so we go inside.

The mall is multi-story and contains many high end stores.  They have Gucci, Armani, and Pierre Cardin, just to name a few.  With all this capitalist decadence, Ho Chi Minh must be spinning in his mausoleum.  There are not a lot of people shopping, but several families seem to be there to ride the escalators.

On two of the lower levels there are multiple restaurants.  There is an ice cream shop called Bud's Ice Cream of San Francisco, and we get dessert there. 

Wandering around some more at the mall, we find where all the scooters and motor bikes go during the day.  There are two or three parking levels below the mall.  They are filled.

 

After our mall excursion, we go back to the hotel.