Our last night in Hue ended up being fairly interesting. Around 6pm we were in the room cooling off and the power went out on for most of the city on our side of the river. It did not take long for the temperature to rise in the room so we decided it was best to head to dinner. We walked down to the river and walked around for about an hour again. Everyone in town seemed to have generators running to keep the lights on so I figure the city wide brownouts are a regular occurrence (it actually happened 3 times just while we were there). We finally settled on a place called the DMZ which had a good mix of foods, a bar and a pool table.
After dinner we decided to play a little pool. No point in going home with no AC. It wasn't any cooler in the bar, but at least we had something to entertain ourselves with. About half way into our second game we got challenged by what looked like a father daughter couple... it wasn't. It ended up being an Australian guy (named Chris) and the daughter of his a guy who he had just met on the overnight bus who was sick as a dog back at the hotel. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but I am not so sure I would let my daughter hang out with a guy I just met on the bus. Anyway we played them in pool. Chris was talking to the girl and she seemed to be into staying and hanging out with us.. too bad she was 16. After a few games they headed home and we decided to head home and get some sleep before flying to Saigon the next day.
We arrived in ho Chi Min City/Saigon around 4pm yesterday and it was not quite the modern mecca we had hoped for. I am not sure where we got the idea, but for some reason we seemed to think Saigon being the largest city would be the most modern. The city is pretty much like Hue only a lot bigger. The architecture is pretty much whatever the French left behind and then there are some modern buildings sprinkled in. We did not do to much yesterday other than get caught out in a huge storm. The rain was nuts and I honestly don't think I will ever get used to it. All the streets flooded 3-4 inches deep and kids were running around playing in it just getting soaked. We tried to wait it out for a good 1.5 hrs in an internet cafe, but it never let up. Finally we gave in, took off our shoes and rolled up our pants. Since all it did was rain the rest of the night we spent most of our time inside watching TV and getting some dinner.
Today has been our day to tour the city of Ho Chi Min. Around 11:30 we got out and walked toward the Revolutionary Museum. it cost about a buck to get in and the exhibits detail both the revolution against the French and Japanese and the resistance against the American invasion (i.e the Vietnam War.) All I can say is it is quite... i guess the best word is interesting. I won't say much more than that, but lets just say we are not the good guys. After that we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Reunification Palace. We didn't go in. I don't think either of us could take another hour in a museum. A short walk from there is Notre Dame Cathedral. It is basically a miniature version of the one in Paris made out of brick. Nothing all that impressive and it ended up being closed for the weekends. Lucky for us not all was lost and we spotted an indoor mall with AC. It really was just one big store and had an arcade in the top. We walked around too cool off and then walked back towards our hotel, stopping along the way at a big market. It really was nothing new. One market in Vietnam is as good as the next and they all seem to carry the same crap and after the Fedex issues we had in China buying large scale souvenirs is out. Actually for me buying any souvenirs seems to be out, since most of the stuff they sell is cheap crap that will break or shrink as soon as you get it home.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Cu Chi Tunnels just outside the city. It is supposedly an area of heavy fighting during the war and you can crawl through some of the tunnels. Not sure we will be doing much of that since they are designed for people half my size, but we will see.
