Travel : Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - 2-5 December 2011

This is the chronicles of our Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam trip. I will make this a 3 blog post. For this post, this is the summary of our first day in Ho Chi Min City. We spent the day with the city tour. I love the structures in the city. There is a European feel to the city because of the structures and buildings since Ho Chi Minh was a French colony before.

The airport in Ho Chi Minh city is very nice. I can compare it to a smaller version of Changi airport of Singapore.

We booked Au Lac Hotel for this trip. This hotel is very new and the staffs are very friendly. Also, the location is very near the tourist attractions (by foot).

The first attraction that we visited was the Ho Chi Minh City Hall. It's picturesque and this looks like a building somewhere in Europe!

Next, we went to Emperor Jade Pagoda or the Tortoise Pagoda. There's a lot of figures inside and you can smell the incense all over the place. Outside the pagoda, there are vendors selling birds and tortoise, according to our tour guide, people who go to the pagoda offer birds or tortoise.

Next we went to the handicrafts factory. I'd love to bring one of the products but I stopped myself thinking what will I do with it. Maybe in the future. They are really really beautiful! I'd buy one once I have my own house! :)

Then we headed off to the Reunification Palace

Thich Quang Duc monument - He was a buddhist monk who burned himself to death as a protest against the raping of buddhist.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Ho Chi Minh City's post office

Ho Chi Minh's Opera House

And lastly, after a very tiring walk which we complained to the tour guide that forced him to get a rickshaw for us (well, I know the rickshaw ride was really part of the tour!) we finally had dinner on a big boat that sailed along the Saigon river. And I must say, I love the Vietnamese food!

And oopsss, before I forget, I'd like to share to you these pictures from Vietnam. Only in Vietnam where you get to see this :