Around the World Again

Phu My, Vietnam (port for Ho Chi Minh City) – March 12, 2018

I signed up for a private excursion on the Cruise Critic roll call. We ended up with 10 people and the final cost was $38 which included lunch, a morning coffee, and an afternoon ice cream.

We met Zoom, our guide, at the port entrance at 7:30 and headed off to Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh city although still often called Saigon). After an interesting ride in, we were at our first stop, the Rex Hotel, before 9am. The Rex Hotel is where the evening press briefings were given during the war. These briefings were nicknamed the “five o’clock follies”. We had a choice of coffee or soda and a beautiful view of the city. We had a short walk across the pedestrian area to pick up our van.

After an interesting ride through Chinatown (I have never seen so many lanterns for sale) we stopped at a Chinese temple dedicated to the Heavenly Lady Goddess of the Sea. There were hundreds of little birds for sale at $1 each. You buy one and then let them go.

Our next stop was for lunch at Pho 2000. It is a very popular spot with tour groups and locals. President Clinton once ate there. We had beef pho and spring rolls.

When lunch was over we had to cross the street to get to the Ben Thanh Market. Actually, crossing the street wasn’t too bad even though the motorcycles don’t always stop. Someone told me when crossing the street always keep going forward. The cyclists are prepared to go around you but if you step back they are not expecting that and may hit you.

Zoom walked us in and explained about the fixed price stalls which are run by the government and the privately-owned ones where you can negotiate. Even without the signs it is easy to tell the difference because the workers in the government stalls are not as enthusiastic about selling to you.

I quickly got lost inside with all the crowded stalls and wasted about 10 minutes finding the entrance where we were to meet. I still found time to do some shopping.

After a quick photo stop at the Presidential Palace (a building that was seen often in the news during the war), we went to the Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral is being restored so much of it is in scaffolding. The Post Office looks more like a train station. Inside it has souvenirs for sale but still functions as a post office.

Our last stop was at the War Remnants Museum. It is mostly propaganda depicting those who were against the Vietnam War and the US involvement.

We drove past the villa Westmoreland used during the war as we were headed to a lacquer factory. All of us were tired by that point and decided not to go. On the way back to Phu My, Zoom asked if we wanted to stop at a Buddhist Monastery and we declined that, too.

Arrived back at the ship about 4:00 and I looked around at the few stalls by the ship. They didn’t have any real good deals and nothing like the scarves and purses I saw at other Vietnamese ports in 2014. I was back on the ship by 4:30.

Bonnie, Rodney, Marilyn, and I joined with two others for trivia. We had 12 but the winning team had 15 out of 17.

1)Where is your tragus?

2)Which state has a coastline of over 6600 miles?

3)What is the name of Spiderman’s childhood sweetheart?

4)What color is the cross on the flag of Finland?

5)How many squares on a Scrabble board?

Only four of us at dinner. I had fruit, a spring roll, and a burger that had pork BBQ and an egg on it (unusual item on the dining room menu), and a tropical fruit sundae for dessert.

Skipped the show and finished processing my pictures before getting to bed. We lost an hour of sleep. Ugh!

One sea day until Singapore.

On the road between Phu My and Saigon…