{"id":1309,"date":"2012-11-26T03:06:20","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T03:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2025-11-23T07:11:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:11:50","slug":"saigon-ooops-ho-chi-minh-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2012\/11\/26\/saigon-ooops-ho-chi-minh-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Saigon\u2026\u2026.ooops\u2026\u2026.Ho Chi Minh City !"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u2018Kenn Factor\u2019 caught us again on Friday, how does it still astound us every time?\u00a0 We thought he was dropping us at Changi airport, but no.\u00a0 He drove us west out to Jurong at the Malaysian border to pick up an anchor. Rodney felt like he was going back to work\u2026…bit of a shock for him\u2026\u2026! We couldn\u2019t have been further from the airport and still have been in Singapore!\u00a0 Luckily we had plenty of time before our flight and we saw bits of Singapore that I\u2019ve never seen before.\u00a0 Relaxing with Kenn is definitely an oxymoron.<\/p>\n

When we landed at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), we were met by our friend Rick and his eight-year old daughter, Carmen.\u00a0 Neither of us has been to Vietnam before, so it was really nice to have friends to help introduce us to this crazy country.\u00a0 Our first shock was the traffic; it was absolutely mad, beyond belief.\u00a0 Their driver, Vinh, somehow weaved through the extraordinarily busy roads to their home in District 2.\u00a0 There were thousands of motor bikes and scooters mingling amongst cars and trucks which were going in all directions; it was mind boggling.\u00a0 I kept looking at Rodney who couldn\u2019t take his eyes off the road. He looked like he was loving it, but at the same time looked scared at what he was seeing.\u00a0 I had to stop looking out of the window.\u00a0 I was overly relieved to arrive in one piece and we were greeted at the gate by Go Chin (Miss Chin), their nanny\/maid.\u00a0 We dropped off our bags and then the four of us walked (no, one of us roller skated) around to The Boathouse for cocktails (and one mocktail) before dinner.\u00a0 When we got back, Lan was home from work and Go Chin had cooked us a beautiful meal, the first of many yummy meals in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Breakfast at The Boathouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Saturday morning we all went for breakfast back at The Boathouse, before Lan popped in to her office and Rick and Carmen gave us a short introduction to the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, District 1.<\/p>\n

Carmen quotes for the day:<\/p>\n

1) \u201cMummy has a cool toilet with chickens\u201d.\u00a0 We were given a tour of Lan\u2019s magazine publishing office and yes, there were chickens, but they weren\u2019t in the toilet, they were outside on a roof next door, phew.<\/p>\n

2) \u201cThey put oysters on the flag and that ended the Vietnam war?\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cNo\u201d said Rick, \u201cthey hoisted<\/span> the flag\u201d at the Independence Palace, signalling the end of the war.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Inside the Post Office in Saigon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a \u2018Wrap and Roll\u2019 lunch, they dropped us off at their club for a swim, while they played tennis in 33\u00b0c heat.\u00a0 It was far more relaxing for us; dozing on a sun bed, under an umbrella and palm trees next to the swimming pool, whilst watching ships and barges travel up and down the river right in front of us.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Swimming with passing ships<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We ended the day with a sensational buffet dinner at the Caravelle Hotel, which, during the 1960s, was home to the Australian Embassy, the New Zealand Embassy, and the Saigon bureaus of NBC, ABC and CBS. \u00a0 As a hub of communication, it became a noted location and was bombed in theVietnam War.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Ben Thanh Market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Craiks were starting Sunday by participating in a charity fun run, so we did the opposite with a lie in and then, feeling guilty at being so slovenly, we strolled to the local supermarket and pharmacy. Rodney needed the extra sleep having caught a snotty cold. We all lunched together at a lovely local French restaurant and then the boys visited a city bar for a three-hour \u2018happy hour\u2019, where you could drink as much Tiger beer as you wanted for only $5.\u00a0 \u00a0Not being a beer lover, Lan insisted that I use one of her vouchers for a massage at a very stylish spa in the city, thank you so much Lan, it was wonderful.\u00a0 Our third evening was spent at home with the boys reminiscing and me creating origami boxes, boats, animals, etc with Carmen.\u00a0 Go Chin whipped up a tasty pasta and the dessert involved origami boxes and chocolate bars; I won\u2019t go in to detail, but Carmen and I had a lot of fun and a rather late night\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

On Monday morning, very early, a very sleepy Carmen didn\u2019t want to have her shower before school for fear that she would miss saying goodbye to us; she was so funny.\u00a0 She was finally packed off to school, with a bag of origami creations and Vinh took us four grown-ups to Lan and Rick\u2019s offices; they both have offices in the same building, which must make life a lot easier for transport in this city.<\/p>\n

So on another blue sky day, we sat waiting in the open air at the base of their building for a tour company pick-up. We were fascinated by the continual stream of traffic trailing past us.\u00a0 Every so often, one of the scooters or motorbikes would drive up the pavement and in through the foyer, not cutting their engine until they were way past us.\u00a0 The cheery security man on reception would greet each of them and sometimes plonk a newspaper from his desk onto their handlebars as they passed him.\u00a0 There must have been a massive parking place somewhere out the back.\u00a0 One bike pulled up outside on the pavement and the driver proceeded to unload huge bags of tomatoes, cucumbers and various greens.\u00a0 Another arrived with six sacks of ice which were slowly melting all over his bike.\u00a0 So many of the riders wore face masks and, with all the fumes around us, I was wishing I had one too.\u00a0 Sometimes a scooter or a bicycle would travel against the flow of the traffic and yet everyone seemed oblivious to the fact and the traffic would continue to flow at the same steady pace, accompanied by the never-ending tooting and honking of horns.<\/p>\n

Apparently, for the last three years it has been compulsory to wear a crash helmet\u2026\u2026.unless you are under 16 years of age!\u00a0 And the rule does seem to be adhered to; apart from one very old and completely bald lady riding pillion behind a younger woman.\u00a0 I guess having always ridden with no helmet, she wasn\u2019t starting now.\u00a0 She probably liked to feel the wind in her (lack of) hair !!!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Where’s Wally on a bicycle?!!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u2018Kenn Factor\u2019 caught us again on Friday, how does it still astound us every time?\u00a0 We thought he was dropping us at Changi airport, but no.\u00a0 He drove us west out to Jurong at the Malaysian border to pick up an anchor. Rodney felt like he was going back to work\u2026…bit of a shock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8201,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions\/8201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}