March 19, 2024
Ho Chi Minh City was formerly called Saigon and many today still refer to it as Saigon. Today we had a half-day tour to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which holds his embalmed remains and grounds before transferring to the airport.
It was quite a process for lining up to see Ho Chi Minh as we had to line up single file to buy tickets and then line up two by two to get there. (quite militant guard keeping us in line) Bags needed to be checked before proceeding to the line after security and there was some drama when I explained that our passports (and money) was all in the camera bag. She runs back to retrieve it and somehow, we got to carry it in. We were instructed to show respect while in line with no joking or laughing. We were told to keep the line moving and stay in our 2 by 2 line as we filed past the body.
Ho's body lies in state under a glass sarcophagus, overseen by an honor guard of four sentries standing at each corner of the bier. The embalmed body is extraordinarily well preserved and dressed in a khaki suit. His face and hands are illuminated with spotlights; the rest of the room is dimly lit.
No photos were allowed inside, but
outside after the tour we could take photos of the building. There was a line we were not allowed to cross which made it hard to get shots of the entrance. I didn’t see the sign and took a
step to get a better shot and the guard yelled at me. Tom did the same thing a
bit later and got the same treatment. Yikes!
After taking our photos we then visited the nearby Ho Chi Minh grounds and the Presidential Palace where Ho Chi Minh lived after taking power (he never really moved in, contenting himself with living in the former electrician's quarters, then in a custom-built stilt house from the 1950s till his death).
Our guide Lily was a sweet and well-intentioned woman and very knowledgeable, however her style of guiding was talking way too long about the site and then ready to go without giving us time to see it or take photos. She was very repetitive and said the same things over and over and over.
It was a chilly rainy morning and we really wanted to leave
for the airport two hours before the flight. Lily kept pushing to add more
things like a walk around the lake (in the rain). She wanted us to stop for lunch or at least coffee. We
finally got her to just show us the lake and head to airport.
Trúc Bạch Lake is known outside Vietnam as the site where
future United States politician John McCain landed during the Vietnam War after
being shot down. There is a memorial there now. In nice weather it would have
been a nice stroll around the lake.
Lily missed the point of why we wanted to be at the airport early. Since we toured in the morning, we had things to rearrange before getting to the counter. Lily rushed us to the counter with us still trying to stop and rearrange things, but she just plowed ahead to the counter motioning for us to come now.
There was lots of drama with our carryon’s. Oddly, they
weighed all four of them together (both couples) instead of each one separately. Not fair to
the Krill’s’ since theirs weighed less than ours. Tom fell on his sword and
checked his. We really just needed to rearrange so we could check one carry one,
but Lily didn’t understand. Finally, the agent just tagged our carryon’s and
let us go. He was over us at that point.
We checked into Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel. The
4 of us have been to HCMC before so we didn’t have a lot planned for our free
time here. We were able to enjoy Iced Coffee at the Rex Hotel with Rick &
Janie in 2013, but Tom & Cathy’s tour was cut short by a few complainers
that wanted to go back to the ship, so this was a MUST do. We planned that for
the next day.
We all had drinks and dinner at the rooftop bar. It was
great food with a view and a good choice as we were tired.
We went to bed early for a 7:10 pickup for the Cu Chi Tunnels tour by Speedboat.
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