Saigon

June 30, 2017 Leoniedukes 0

29 June

Today started with a bit of a problem. I had booked a tour for an easy no fuss last day, but apparently the company I booked with ceased to exist suddenly. I had not paid anything, but it did leave me at a bit of a loss for what to do for the day. I took a bit of time to contemplate, and planned out a bit of a walking tour. I started off with a visit to a nearby park.

There were quite a few squirrels in the parks.

The exercise equipment was hugely popular here – I drove past here again later and it was all being used then too.

Avoid annoying your neighbours, practice your drumming in the park. It was actually quite a nice background noise.

After the park, I visited the War Remnants Museum. It is mostly a photographic exhibit of the American War and the aftermath, with a few planes and things outside. It has some quite graphic and confronting images, and judging from the reactions of a few people it may be the first time they thought about the war outside of America’s viewpoint. Other people were obviously not so affected – I saw one woman posing for a smiling photo of herself and her son, in front of a picture of a woman holding her child who was disabled as a result of Agent Orange.

The Vietnamese really like displaying all of their American equipment.

There was a mock prison area, displaying conditions for prisoners of war.

Street sweeper – all of the roads here were swept by hand.

For some reason they like the pigeons here to be strange colours.

Saigon Post Office. Still a working post office, plus souvenir shops.

Just north of the post office was a quiet little lane lined with booksellers. A cafe here was the perfect spot for morning tea.

My final stop on the walk was the Saigon Zoo and Botanic Gardens. I was expecting a large garden with a small Zoo, but it basically was a zoo with nice gardens. The conditions for the animals are not as bad as I feared, but they are what our zoos were 30-40 years ago. Some of the animals should not have been kept in the heat, the bears particularly were very stressed.

Part of the bear enclosure. What they really needed was air conditioning.

There was an orchid house with very few flowering plants, but this tree had a nice display.

There were a lot of amusements for kids – all these balls were filled with children.

After the zoo it was time to head to the airport for my trip home.

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