Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Vietnam...some people did not even get off the boat here...too many memories or emotions.  That's why I decided to use this picture of the cuties I saw going on a field trip to a museum for this post. 

I left Cambodia in the late afternoon of March 14 and flew to Ho Chi Minh City.  It was late and we just had dinner (very yummy Vietnamese food I might add) and then got to out hotel about 1030pm.  The next day we spent seeing the "sights".  We went to the former Presidential Palace, now the Independence Palace where the North Vietnamese tank crashed through the front gate in 1975.  We also saw the building where the Americans were evacuted by  helicopter when the North Vietnamese took control and went to the War Museum where there are lots of photos and captions showing how the Americans tortured and killed civilians in villages, and of course they couldn't leave out the photos of all the children born with birth defects because of agent orange.  Most of the people in my group didn't even go in and look at anything.  I of course checked it all out to see what was there (right down to the giant cockroaches in the restroom!).  There was a quote by Ho Chi Minh in Vietnamese and I asked our guide to translate it but he just said it was propaganda and wouldn't tell me what it said.  On a brighter note, we also took a 30 minute cyclo ride (I sat in a metal basket type thing in front and the driver pedaled the bike in back to push me along) through the city and it was a blast.  Totally touristy but it was alot of fun and went slow enought for me to get some cool pics.  We ended the day at the market where I picked up a couple things.  The prices in Cambodia and Vietnam were very low.  I hardly bargained at all...when their asking price is $1 I don't feel right about paying too much less.  So,Vietnam, an interesting stop.  I just don't know how I feel about it.  The people were very friendly and nice and seemed sincere.  I still wonder what they really feel about Americans though.  I left Ho Chi Minh City that afternoon and traveled by bus a couple hours back to the ship in Phu My, Vietnam.