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Ho Chi Minh City South Vietnam

September 19, 2013 by David Herd

Ho Chi Minh City is Honda heaven.

Ho Chi Minh City South Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City South Vietnam is Honda heaven, it is quite a shock when you see the number of motorbikes on the streets, crossing the road seems like a game of Russian roulette. 😆

Ho Chi Minh City South Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City

As we all know Asia is the place to buy all sorts of copy & fake items, from watches to levis etc. Did you realise however in Vietnam quite a % of the Honda motorbikes are also copies of the real thing? They cost about 50% of the retail price and look identical, although the locals can tell the difference at a glance.  😆

Ho Chi Minh City South Vietnam Cyclo driver

Ho Chi Minh City

A word of warning, these Cyclo drivers know every trick in the book when it comes to relieving you of your hard earned cash. Always establish the price & terms before you hire them. Even when you do there will usually be an argument at the end of the ride anyhow.  👿

 HCMC is fascinating.

Ho Chi Minh City

 

Street vendors find a place to sit on the road.

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Narrow buildings in HCMC.

 

Ho Chi Minh City

Many of the buildings here are tall and narrow, I believe it is because they are taxed on the width of the property. It can be a little confusing wondering whether to refer to the city as Ho Chi Minh City Saigon, most Americans, French & Australians have the name Saigon burned into their brains.

War Remnants Museum

Ho Chi Minh City

Once known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, the War Remnants Museum is consistently the most popular museum in HCMC with Western tourists. Many of the atrocities documented here were well publicized in the West, but rarely do Westerners have the opportunity to hear the victims of US military action tell their own stories. Watching the films and studying the photos had a profound effect on me, I believed then & I still believe today the Vietnam war was one of the darkest periods of Australia & America’s history.

The pain & suffering we inflicted on these wonderful people should never be forgotten. Strangely enough all the people I met seemed to hold no grudge against us, they refer to it not as the Vietnam war but the American war. I remember it as a shocking blight on our history, and I applaud this small country for being able to withstand the might of the most powerful military machine in the world and come out victors.

Two very old relics

Ho Chi Minh City

These two very old relics date back to WW2, quite surprising they are still functioning. 🙂

Mekong river tour

Ho Chi Minh City

A half day trip that is really worth taking.

Beautiful face in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City

This beautiful little girl sang a song for us on our Mekong Delta tour.

One of the many tours you can take from HCMC is the Mekong River tour which is well worth the time. However my favorite tour was to the Cu Chi tunnels where you can actually crawl through the narrow underground tunnels and experience the terror of being trapped in a small dark place. I like many people suffer from Claustrophobia however I forced myself to face my demons and entered the dreaded tunnels. I crawled about 25 meters then made my escape at the first available exit, with a huge sigh of relief and a feeling of achievement.

The saddest face in Saigon.

Ho Chi Minh City

 

This poor little girl was begging for money with her mother watching from 5 meters away, instead of cash we gave her food, I’ll never forget this beautiful sad face.

Another beautiful face in HCMC.

Ho Chi Minh City

A beautiful face in Ho Chi Minh Cty Saigon.

AK 47 at Cu Chi

Ho Chi Minh City

As they said in the movie Jackie Brown, AK-47, The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfxxckxr in the room, accept no substitutes.

M16 at the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Ho Chi Minh City

There is a range at the Cu Chi tunnels where you can fire all the lethal weapons used in the Vietnam war, quite an incredible experience.

Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica

 Ho Chi Minh City

Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, built in the late 1880s by French colonists, is one of the few remaining strongholds of Catholicism in the largely Buddhist Vietnam. Located in Paris Square, the name Notre Dame was given after the installation of the statue ‘Peaceful Notre Dame’ in 1959.

Saigon Apartments

Ho Chi Minh City

 

Great value and a good location in District 3. Only $68 per night if you book through this AGODA link. Both bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and there is an excellent kitchen and large lounge room with a balcony.

So it really doesn’t matter whether you call the city Ho Chi Minh City Saigon or not, either way it is a fascinating place.

 

Here is a link for some very interesting things and photos of Vietnam.

Here is a short video of me firing an M60, my crazy friend with the camera got such a fright with the noise and the shells ejecting he lost control of the camera. Is it any wonder his nickname is Pothole?  😆

Firing an M60 in Vietnam.

 
 
Thanks for visiting my Ho Chi Minh City South Vietnam photo blog.

Needless to say I thought the Vietnam war was a terrible shocking mistake.

Click here for a look at Ha Long Bay.

 

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