Phu My, Vietnam (for Saigon)

This was going to be our long day.  We had to assemble at 7am and we knew that it was to be a two-hour ride from the port to Saigon.  After a cabin breakfast we duly assembled in the theatre to be told that things were running approximately 30 minutes late – arrgh!  

Then we were off the ship and on to the coach to meet our very genial guide.  He was a qualified tour guide with good English and he talked at length about Vietnam in a very honest and open way – a far cry from the party line we had had to endure from the guides on our tours in the former East Germany.  He spoke of the North Vietnamese as if they were from another country and of the Vietcong as if they were a foreign army.

The journey would take two hours, he explained, as the general speed limit was 30 mph to give those on two wheels a chance of survival on the roads.  But they were more than capable of looking after themselves!  Vietnam would be an excellent recruiting ground for future Formula 1 drivers or MOTO GP riders as they are A1 at overtaking in non-existent gaps and judging opportunities on the road to a fine degree.

The tank which stormed the South Vietnamese presidential palace on 30 April 1975, signalling the end of the Vietnam War

We already knew that Vietnam was the two-wheeled capital of the universe, but going to Saigon ramped that up to another level.  There are 90 million people in this country about the size of Great Britain.  There are 30 million motorised bikes of every sort and not so many cars – although we felt we saw enough in a country where the average income is $1000 (£650 per year) and a family saloon car with taxes, costs around £50,000.  You can buy a Chinese moped for $200 US, but a reasonable Japanese bike costs about $1200 US.  Car taxes are very high as the government feels that, if more people had a car, then the roads would grind to a halt.  The law says that only two adults may be on a bike, but families of 5 can be seen on them and they appear able to arrange cargo on them such that they could have moved Sarah in or out of her flat in Nuneaton at one go and without undue fuss.  What a resourceful lot!

There is no unemployment benefit, income tax is over 32% and there is no free health care.  The family is your health insurance in Vietnam.  And yet they are, by all accounts, a very happy people – perhaps because they finally appear to be free of foreign interference after a thousand years of Chinese domination followed by one hundred years of French colonialism and then “The American War”.  There are few old people in Vietnam we were told.  Many of that generation died in the Vietnam War and many since – the result of the US dropping endless amounts of Agent Orange to defoliate the jungle and expose the Vietcong to aerial attack.  Pity that Agent Orange contained dioxins which gave the locals (and the GIs and the Anzacs) all sorts of birth defects and cancers from which they lingered and then died.  A vast percentage of the population is under 25 and life expectancy is around 70.

The journey reminded us of the general poverty around this part of the world, then suddenly we were approaching the edge of Saigon as the housing improved and it all began to look a lot tidier and there appeared to be some money around.  Houses are thin – there’s one which is only a metre wide, we hear - as land prices are high.  Once again, we feel that the system has failed the punters.  Interest rates are high – presumably in an attempt to stem inflation - deposits for houses are substantial and mortgages are for a maximum of 50% and for 10 years at the longest. What hope would any of us have in the UK to buy a house under such circumstances?  And, to cap it all, house prices are generally at least double our current values around Worksop with earnings levels much below what we are used to.

Post Office

Our first stop was at what they now call the Reunification Building – the former palace of the (former) President of South Vietnam.  I can still remember the news reports of the Russian-built T54 tank smashing through the outer railings on 30 April 1975 as South Vietnam finally collapsed.  The tank is still there, but they have smartened it up and moved it to inside the grounds.  We saw the US embassy – unfortunately the old one where the last US helicopter took off with people hanging from the skids is no more.  It seems that the then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, came to Vietnam, saw the embassy, told Bill Clinton it looked tired and that it was not a good ad for the US so Bill had it knocked down and a new one built. We stopped briefly at the Rex Hotel – where the US military used to give daily news briefings during the Vietnam War - but we hear that we are in what is a new wing of the hotel – the old bit they actually used is next door and now a shopping arcade – another bit of history consigned to a rather dusty anonymity.

They had fab toilets in there and a no-catch unencrypted wifi, but there was no time to make any real use of it as we were off again to the next stop – the cathedral and the main Post Office.  There were marrying couples outside the cathedral – they have their photos taken there about 3 weeks before they get married and we went in.  A service was in full swing – in English – and the place was packed with worshippers – God is clearly alive and well and living in Vietnam.  We moved across the road to the Post Office.  The tourist police were out in force – all smiles as they stopped the traffic to let us back and forth across the road.  The Post Office – built by the French no doubt - was more like a provincial town’s railway station and included time clocks from around the world plus some market stall-type shops – and all presided over by the father of the nation – Ho Chi Minh.

At the Rex Hotel - with our guide

Desperately trying to do a Facebook check-in before having to get back on the coach!

But failed!

Prices for touristy souvenirs were modest as usual and it was then that we realised that they run a parallel currency of US dollars – we paid in dollars fearing that we would get Vietnamese dong in change but, no, we got dollars as change!  We moved on, touring round the city centre and realising that Saigon District 1 was very lush and that the other districts were less salubrious. We were shown "Rendezvous Street”, where GIs met girls on weekend evenings and then stopped at a Buddhist temple.  This was way outside our religious comfort zone, but nobody seems to mind the hordes of tourists crawling all over the place while the locals tried to practise their religion.  Buddhists do seem to be so gentle and considerate.  The temples also make big money from donations, our guide told us, and I saw a local woman stuff a wad of notes into a collecting box – but then this is Vietnam and a wad of notes can mean much less than it would at home.

Thought Sarah might like to see how the construction industry in Vietnam copes with electrical wiring issues in the street

We headed for lunch – at a very smart restaurant tucked away from the main action.  They fawned over us there – beautifully-dressed girls welcomed us at the door while others escorted us to the lift and act as lift attendants.  Lunch was served like a wedding banquet and there was lots of live entertainment from local performers.  There’s also more unencrypted wifi, but again not long enough for us to make the most of it by the time we had eaten our very Asian lunch – well there were some chips on offer as well as baguette bread and butter!

Off we go again, this time to a museum – ummm – and a water puppet theatre show.  We were taken on a cursory run through the museum and then seated for the puppet theatre performance.  That was something neither of us had experienced and was an entertaining interlude in a very busy day.

Off again with the clock for departure starting to tick loudly and we were at our last stop – a lacquer factory.  That was amazing – to see the craftsmen – and women – decorating the products and then we went in to the display area/shop.  Wow!  What an surprising place.  The whole room was exquisitely set out and superbly lit and there were lots of gorgeous items on sale at very reasonable prices.  Not only that, but they would take a credit card and gift wrap anything for you at no extra cost.  And it was all carried out extremely efficiently.

Our Guide at the Buddhist Temple

Buddhist Temple

Just as well, as time was now getting tight and we hurried back on to the bus.  We needn’t have worried.  One woman decided to come back 15 minutes late!  The journey back was slow.  It was getting towards rush hour in Vietnam and that meant road chaos – yes, even worse than Sheffield at peak times!  We intermingled with other Princess buses – just about everyone on board the ship seemed to be on a coach around here and we got back after the “All Aboard” time, but nobody seemed to care as we quickly browsed the impromptu market which had been set up on the quayside and then joined the queue to get back on board.