Day 12 - Vietnam Discovery from Hanoi to the Meekong Delta - 'Inside Vietnam' adventure with EXPLORE

Day 12 - Saigon

Today was the last whole day of the original group who started all way back in Hanoi twelve days ago.  Sadly, half of the group will tomorrow depart as they to venture their way by bus to Cambodia.  They will have a two-hour journey to the border where Joseph, who will have left us remaining ones to our own devices, will take them.  

They will then complete departure customs checks and walk the one hundred or so meters to the Cambodian customs border station.  They will be then be meeting a new bunch of adventurers for their week in Cambodia and a new Explore guide.

After a short ride in our air-conditioned haven we had a brief stop at the big central post office which I think if I remember correctly is housed in a now disused train station.  I'll need to check on that.  I picked up a card and envelope so we can start our collection/tip for Joseph, our small token of appreciation for the great guide he has been and the great humour he has brought to our group adventure.

Close by to the post office we visited a lovely tree lined pedestrian area known locally as, 'Book Street', a quaint place lined with bookshops of every kind.  Little gifts shops and mini cafes intermixed in between them.  A very relaxing experience for your literary side.

There's a lot we fit in today.  A visit next to the Independence Palace is a real tour highlight, a must visit when in Saigon.  It's an imposing structure, officially known as ‘The Reunification Convention Hall’.  A very Soviet influenced design, the interior seemed straight out of a cold war spy movie.

Bold, wide staircases, huge reception rooms with even more grandiose, imposing desks for the party leaders.  There are tanks in the massive gardens out the front and there is even a UH-1 American helicopter on the roof of the rear wing with two circled areas of where two bombs were dropped during the Vietnam war.

At the top floor of this historical and integral part of modern Vietnamese identity, Joseph, Nick, Miles and I stop for a rest and I get the next round in.  Only Ice creams this time!

A short hop again on our mini-bus and dropped off back in downtown and we passed down streets and alleyways, through narrow markets where the locals sell their wares, still dodging mopeds even here.  We also fitted in a quick stop at a little museum that showed you the logistics and how urban warfare occurred in the war and also had some hidden tunnels/arms cache under the street levels you could crawl into.  Well done Graham for one.  It's great when you do things like this on Explore tours and stop at a random back street cafes to have a quick coffee or pineapple juice like we did on this little walk.

You meet lovely local locals who are always so nice here when you make these off the beaten path stops with a local guide, it really adds to the authentic experiences that you just might never enjoy when travelling under your own steam.

We reached the end of one of the narrow back streets and our minibus pulls up 10 seconds later, amazing timing as always given the hectic nature of road traffic here.  It's from here we headed to our next destination, a place that is a very meaningful destination, The Museum of War Remnants.

It's not the easiest of places for some to visit as the history depicted is very graphic.  I have visited two concentration camps in my previous travels, so I sort of prepared for some of the feelings I would experience here.  Its graphical exhibitions showing photographs I’d say that you might see less of in other countries.  There is a vast quantity of photographic presentation as well  as word boards for us to read.

It covers subject material that I thought I knew a fair amount about but it showed me an awful lot of things I did not know.  The Vietnam war was such a dark moment in human history.  One of our group did say she had to stop her visit early as it was all a bit too much to cope with.

Later on I carefully picked out a bunch of painted cards, oriental themed, after our visit to the museum, they're made from very thin wooden sticks bound together kind of thing, these were for gifts for the group later tonight at the farewell dinner.

The 6pm committee convened at the rooftop pool bar to officially wind down the committees operations and Steve, who had a jacket made at the silk factory in Hoi An city, made his grand entrance.  Wow, oh wow!  It is ‘bright’ a truly colourful majorly pink and purple affair.  Base colour is pink with floral designs, the kind of jacket that would have Michael Portillo green or pink in this case with envy.

I'd taken up the duty of arranging the tip and card for our wonderful guide Joseph and it gets passed around the group during the evening before dinner, little personal messages are written on the card by everyone.  I’m always honoured when the trust is there and everyone puts their money in the envelope when I'm arranging the tour guide’s tip.  Contributions are made anonymously as is the tradition, so individual contributions are private and not known to anyone else.

Our remit this journey has been ‘up the stairs and out the back’ for a majority of our meals out and this night is no different.  I wish these final nights were longer affairs as speaking for myself, they are a little sad as it's signalling the end of the little family you have grown to know and really enjoy the company of over the tour.

The drinks are on the table and the food was ordered, more prawns/shrimp for me, I will have to give them up for a while on my return!  Joseph took this moment to make a little speech to the group about the enjoyable journey we have had as a group.  Steve, the appointed speech maker, then stood and made our collective thoughts known in kind return on behalf of the group.  Joseph had been a really uplifting and happy guide and created a great group dynamic there is no doubt.

We've had a few catchphrases over the journey.  We’ve joked that everything is 2kms away or twenty minutes’ walk away according to Joseph and that most things here cost one dollar.  I also took a moment at the end of the heartfelt mini speeches to pass around the little gifts that I had bought for the group.  I think they like them, just a small memento of a wonderful and super interesting two weeks in Vietnam.

On our walk back we were taken through the craziest street in all of Vietnam.  It's like Saigon-Vegas-Soho.  More neon signs than you’ve ever seen when not in Times Square, an insane number of music bars, heaving loud music, bands playing, dancing on tables, you name it, it seemed to be going on here or was available for consumption all dependent on the depth of your bank balance.

Then we saw plenty of people in various stages of dress or undress, dancing on stages in the bar fronts trying to attract business for the 'services' on offer.  Our group, of course, were just here 'for research purposes' and were passing through for the experience of seeing what this infamous area was all about!  It was an eye-opening experience and just about as opposite to what you think a communist country would allow.  A night out here and you would be forgiven when you woke up for not knowing how you got where you are, where your wallet and clothes are and wandering how you ended up in a Las Vegas backstreet.