I decided to start the day with a nice big bowl of Pho - the traditional Vietnamese breakfast. So I headed to Pho 2000 (yes really), whose most famous customer before me was President Bill Clinton.
Just as a little side note - Bill Clinton once dined at the excellent Blue Bell Tavern in Harrogate after being turned away by another well known exclusive restaurant in the city (which I won't name, but it has a picture of a Drum and a Monkey on the sign). Like dude - who turns away Bill Clinton because he doesn't have a reservation! Apparently, he tried the ale at the Bell, and really liked it.
Anyway - Pho is noodle soup usually with Beef in it. Thankfully they have a Veggie version which was really good. They brought me some chillies to go with it, so I chucked them in (as you do), and found out they were so hot I had tears running down my face. I ended up having to fish them all out with chopsticks - which is not that easy when your crying because your mouth's on fire.
From there, I headed to the Re-unification Palace, and made it just in time for the English tour. It was basically the white house of the President of the South Vietnamese Government (or the Puppet Government of American Enemy as I've heard it referred to a few times. Seriously - I didn't make that up).
Anyway - it was the place where Saigon finally fell on the 30 April 1975. It's been preserved exactly as it was on the day the palace was stormed and power handed over without a single shot being fired, and led to the re-unification of Vietnam - hence the name. You can read about it here - it's actually pretty interesting, and the guided tour was good as well.
As we were walking around, an American called Bob was asking some questions about the creation of the split between north and south Vietnam. I was pretty interested so hung on while he asked. Although the tour guide didn't know the answer, we ended up chatting, and he introduced me to his daughter Katie whose in Vietnam teaching English.
After the tour, we went for a drink and got chatting, which was really good. We talked about loads of stuff, including Vietnam history, to American politics, and the financial crisis. I couldn't believe it when we finally said goodbye - two hours later.
Here;s some pics of the Re-unification Palace:
From the front - not bad to say it was built in the 60's:
The first Emperor of Vietnam (I think):
One of the rooms - not a lava lamp in sight:
The heli-pad complete with A Team style helicopter:
Another room:
From there I went for a bit of a wander, and had a walk around the streets.
There's a lot of hassle in HCMC. And most of it doesn't have the same light-heartedness that you get in Cambodia. There's never a smile or a conversation at the end - it just feels like all people want is the money in your wallet.
As I'm walking through the park, I'm approached by a Vietnamese lad and four girls who all say: Hello.
So I say hello, walking on, not sure if they're after something.
But it ends up that they are learning English and just want to ask me some questions. At that point it starts thunder and lighting, and pouring with torrential rain. So we race to one of the Pagoda's in the park, and end up chatting for about an hour until the rain stops.
There English was fairly good to say they hadn't been learning that long, and they were a really nice group - and really interested in English life. They showed me the work book they had, which told them all about England. It was full of all of the usual stereotypes people have of England: Maggie, The Queen, Skinheads, London Buses. It even had Haworth in it, and the Dales, which it described as: a remote and wild corner of the country - who ever wrote it had obviously been to After Dark on a Friday night :-)
I even learned something from it. Until quite recently, it was common for men to sell there wives in Birmingham, and as recently as 1765, some guy (I can't remember his name), sold his wife for a pound :-)
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