Ho Chi Minh City

HCMC is quite a beautiful and strange place. The 60's architecture is juxtaposed against more modern buildings and a sea of scooters. You would not believe how many scooters there are. Combined with the cars, it is somewhat of a ballet of metal with nary an accident. We ate at Pho 2000 today, which is where President Clinton ate lunch when he was in Ho Chi Minh City in 2000.

The downer of the day was the War Remanants Museum, which chronicled the Vietnam war through the eyes of photojournalists and survivors. It definitely was sobering to see the documentation of the war from the side of the Vietnamese. Despite your thoughts on the war, it was sobering for all and a realization that war is not the answer.

On a brighter note, I didn't completely sweat through my shirt. It was hot, but bearable. And, we lucked out as it was beautiful during the morning and early afternoon when we were touring around, but it started pouring down rain just as we got back to the hotel. Instead of getting stuck in our room, we went for a massage at the spa which was FANTASTIC!

Later that evening, after the rain had passed, we went to an awesome dinner at Mandarine. It is traditional Vietnamese food that was definitely targeted towards expats and upper class citizens, but the service was awesome and the food was delicious.

In front of the helicopter at Reunification Palace

Making a quick phone call on the Vietnamese Mobile of the war era

At a Chinese Pagoda in Cholon

Quan pointing out the "Ten Levels of Hell"