As we had elected to explore the city on our own we were handed a map and dropped off at the Bitexco Building.
We had been told tourist attractions closed between 12 and 2 for lunch. Our first port of call was the Reunification Palace. We set off in the direction then made the mistake of stopping to check out the map. A man came up and offered to help. We naively showed him the map and said where we wanted to go. He said - too far to walk, get taxi. Our guide on the bus had already told us it was walkable so we declined and walked off. He ran after us I take you. I take you. After about a block he finally took our no as a no and ran off after some other tourists.
 |
| Note the child. They even carried babies there. |
Just carrying a few supplies
|
Somehow we ended up at the Ben Thanh Market. As we had seen enough markets the day before we pushed on in search of the Reunification Palace.
We managed to make it to the Reunification Palace by 11:40 only to find they were closed until 1:00. Great. Next we headed to the Notre-Dame Church, a 19th century Roman-Gothic Cathedral.
Across the road was the Post Office which as well as being a Post Office has shops and street hawkers.
By this stage we were sick of the heat and street hawkers and headed back to the Bitexco Building and ventured up to the Saigon Skydeck. This is on the 49th floor and you can walk all the way around to get a 360 degree view of the city and surrounds. This was probably the best part of the day.
There was also a display of the traditional dresses of Vietnam which were beautiful and well worth a look. As we still had over an hour we went for a walk around the block, located a McDonalds, purchased some fries so we could make use of their wi-fi before heading back to Bitexco Building and the bus for the drive back to the ship.
 |
| Everything wired safely and neatly ! |
You could not walk 5 steps without someone wanting you to buy something or use their tuk tuk or taxi, I even had 3 children, separately, come up asking for money. We were told to cross the road by just stepping onto the road - don’t make eye contact - and just keep walking at a constant pace and they will go around you. Easier said than done. It is quite nerve wracking stepping onto a road with 20 scooters and 5 cars coming straight at you. I was lucky as my hat impeded my view at the side so I couldn’t see them. I would just step out, hold my breath and walk ignoring the horns blaring at me.
 |
| Not sure what this building was |
Was glad to get back to the comfort of the ship at 5pm. Had an early dinner, listened to some music for awhile before an early night. Travelling can be exhausting.
No comments:
Post a Comment