Ho Chi Minh City

What an incredible place! There are millions of people in this city, maybe 10 no one seems sure of the actual numbers, but they all seem to own a moto. The traffic is amazing to watch, the way people weave through streets, around pedestrians and other vehicles is marvelous. The city has some beautiful architecture, the opera house and the central post office especially beautiful. I really enjoyed my few days in the city, it was great having Beth's place to stay, it was so comfortable and homely. I did a day trip out to Tay Ninh a Cao dai temple a couple of hours out of town, the temple was beautiful the walls were adorned with brightly coloured sculptures and paintings. The temple is the headquarters of the Cao Dai religion, this is a combination of religions including Buddhism, Christianity and Confucianism. We were fortunate enough to arrive during a prayer ceremony so the temple was filled with people in traditional dress and musicians playing beautiful music. On the way to the temple our guide was telling us that there used to be a lot of physically and mentally disabled people begging in the streets, the government thought this was bad for tourism so they moved them all out of the city he wasn't sure where to. These days they provide them with work in factories. We stopped at a factory where people with disability were making art, they were sticking pieces of broken egg shell onto big ceramic urns or wooden boards making beautiful designs and then painting them. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the place, I guess its good the people are off the streets and have work, the conditions weren't bad but they were still locked away in a factory. We also visited the the Chu Chi tunnels, built during the Vietnam war forming tunnels a massive underground network spanning more than 200 Km. I climbed into a very small section of original tunnel, so small I only just fit inside. We also walked through an 18m section of tunnel which had been widened for foreigners, still quite a squeeze in sections and a little claustrophobic. I got back to town quite late, I bought an open bus ticket which allows me to hop on and off all the up to Hanoi, I remember the french guys I met in Koh Tao had recommended buying one only and only $40 so good saving. I booked a ticket to Mui Ne for the following day about 4 hour trip north on the coast.




Traffic in Ho Chi Minh, Prayer Ceremony in Tay Ninh, The divine Eye - Representation of God, Egg Shell Art, Being a Tourist In Chu Chu Tunnels, Delicious Vietnamese Coffee!!!