This morning, I was awake (on purpose) at 0430 and got to watch the ship arriving at Ho Chi Minh City (I believe the place where we docked was called Phu My Port, AKA Saigon Port) from my stateroom. I was saddened to see that the Saigon River, which we were using to access the interior of Vietnam, was very polluted and dark brown with mud. Didn't look like a good place to rent a kayak... Along the way into Port, I read, did puzzles and dozed a bit more. Eventually (0730). I went to breakfast (eggs, sausage, beans, fruit, croissants) at the World Cafe. My initial goal for the day was to stay onboard until my afternoon excursion - I’d planned to work out in the gym for most of the later morning. Suddenly, though, I noticed that the weather was much better than expected - rain had been forecast - and decided that it would be a good idea to go into the city on the ship's shuttle bus, Practically racing back to my stateroom, I got ready and left Viking Venus at 0900. I'd heard stories from my fellow passengers but was still rather shocked to learn that the ship was docked more than an hour from the city because my Google Maps seemed to indicate that we were probably only 10-15 miles away. (Later, I learned that we could have had it far worse if we docked on the other side of the river...). On the shuttle bus, we all had to sign our name and birth year ("for the driver's records") and then settled in for the long drive. Part of the reason for the large amount of time was the very poor road conditions in the Industrial Port - the effects of the Typhoon didn't help... We made our way into the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City and the bus was soon making its way down narrow, busy streets. I noticed a good amount of pollution (although most was hidden by tall trees and thick bushes). We passed lots of open air markets, were surrounded by mopeds/scooters that fearlessly took on our motor coach, had to dodge careless pedestrians and were just generally in the middle of lots of chaos. At one point, I noticed a funeral home (or casket store?) that shared a wall with a tattoo parlor. Overall, there seemed to be no sense of order. Meanwhile, I got to witness yet more Boomer rudeness (among themselves, with the driver, etc.). At 1010, we finally arrived at Bitexco Tower and I spent the next 90 minutes walking (4+ miles) and visiting many local landmarks, including the Ho Chi Minh statue, City Hall, Notre Dame Cathedral, Post Office, Municipal Theater (Opera House), Ben-Thanh Market and Reunification Palace (Independence Palace). I’d hoped to attend Mass at the Cathedral but, sadly, the guards wouldn’t let me because the last morning service had already started. Oh well. Fortunately, it was relatively easy to find my way around the city and my situational awareness improved after I found a map. Crossing the street was often required and I soon discovered that crosswalks were “advisory” for the scooters. Near the end of my exploring, I had a few near death experiences while crossing the road to view the Saigon River. Fortunately, I missed every motorized vehicle and they missed me too… Before heading back to Viking Venus, I bought a ticket to climb the Saigon Skydeck, located on the 49th Floor of the Bitexco Building. From there, I got some wonderful views of many places I’d seen while walking. Hoping to get on the 1230 shuttle, I returned to the assigned stop (at the base of the Bitexco Tower) by 1215 - immediately, though, we learned that the next bus was delayed for at least another 30 minutes. I spent some time talking with passengers who live near Vancouver, WA but was also feeling concerned about how I was completely out of water. I thought about purchasing another bottle but then started looking nearby for a place where I could get a local beer. At "Rice Field", I ordered a "Bia Saigon Special" (I learned later that this only cost me about $3). I tried to relax and cool down but this was hard because the bar had all their windows open. The temps were in the high 80s and the humidity was well about 50% - as a result, I was fully soaked with sweat by the time I boarded the return shuttle at 1300. After the delay, the bus was mostly full - there were a LOT of sick passengers all around me. We made our way back towards the Port and I passed the time watching little vignettes of Vietnamese life: busy markets, crazy moped drivers, dogs in the street, school kids riding home, a funeral, building construction, moped repair, couples walking (hand in hand), bartering, churchgoers (including funeral attendees on the way to a cemetery), etc. We arrived at Viking Venus at 1355 and I hurried to World Cafe - I was, fortunately, in time for lunch and I ate some "tide me over until dinner food" (pizza, pasta, fruits, gelato). It was nice to be there at that time - the restaurant was almost empty. Even so, I shouldn't have been surprised when two older couples from New Zealand asked me to join their table. This kind of thing has happened a good bit since I got onboard. Nigel and Marjorie were very interested in the story of my trip (2023) to NZ and we had a nice conversation. Afterwards, I showered and changed clothes in anticipation of my afternoon excursion. At 1545, I left Viking Venus again and got on the motor coach for my evening excursion called “Ho Chi Minh City by Night”. This return visit to the city included stops at several of the landmarks I’d seen in the morning. Our guide asked us to call him “Mr. K” - he was a young man who grew up in Saigon (that's what he called it) - and our driver was Mr. Vinh. To reach the downtown area, we took a different route to city, one that was much more commercial. I'm not sure if this was the reason the drive was shorter or if we were heading into town when everyone else was leaving for the day. In any case, we arrived at the Opera House by 1650. Our guide pointed out a lot of old French hotels and then took us on a short walking tour close to the City Hall and the Promenade I'd walked through in the morning. Mr. K told us that this area used to be a canal from the Saigon River but it had been filled in to create the impression of a Grand Avenue. We continued on past Notre Dame and the Post Office. Darkness had fallen by then and the temps/humidity had dropped - as a result, the experience was somewhat different. Our guide pointed out one thing I’d definitely missed earlier: the building with the famous rooftop with a Huey chopper ("last helicopter out") from April 30, 1975. Wow! We got back on bus at about 1800 and made our way to Pasteur Street (where I’d been earlier in the day). This next phase of the excursion was to eat dinner at a restaurant called Hoa Tuc (1815). The Viking Venus Shorex Team had arranged a seven course meal: fish cakes, fish & pork “street tacos”, chicken salad, sea bass, watercress salad, fried rice and custard. I also got another Saigon Special (beer). What a meal! At my table, I met two couples from Oahu - one of them, Don, was very friendly and made all kinds of offers for me to join him and his friends for dinner if I return to Hawaii. We;ll see if I actually get to share any contact information before the trip is over... We were finished eating at 1920 and the evening wrapped up with another entertaining Water Puppet Show. The differences between my experiences of this pageantry in both the North and South were striking but it was clear there were also some common themes. For my part, I liked the local, rural flair of the performance by the residents of Yen Duc Village... The performance finished at 2045 and we all had to wait while three buses loaded up underneath the narrow portico - it was raining but those bus driving whizzes managed to keep everyone dry during these evolutions. They also managed to back out of the venue and on to a busy street - wow! Meanwhile, the passengers around me were coughing like crazy. On the way out of Ho Chi Minh City, we drove by the Independence Palace and passed through neighborhoods with brilliant lights shining on every building - too bad there was no chance for photos (glare, rain on windows, no real stop)... We then made the long, monotonous slog to the Port. We arrived at Viking Venus by 2200 and I quickly raced to my room in an attempt to settle down for bed in anticipation of my early morning excursion. Fortunately, I was asleep by 2245. Overall, the "Ho Chi Minh City by Night" tour was quite spectacular, with great food, interesting history and a wonderful performance. It was a great day! Hoping I can get another respite from the rain for tomorrow morning’s excursion
