Touring the city!

Last night I met up with the girl I met on the plane and we went for dinner and drinks. Had a really nice evening but was feeling the effects of the Tiger beer when I got up at 7am for the city tour.

When the guide came to get me from my hostel to take me to the bus, I was a bit worried that I was going to be the only one! While a private tour would have been interesting, I was quite releved to find the bus was full.

US plane at the war museum 

The first stop was the War Remnant Muesum. It was really interesting to see the war from the point of view of the Vietnamese rather than the Westen view point.

It was quite upsetting to see pictures of severely disabled people, who are that way as a result of the Agent Orange chemical bombs that were dropped during the Vietnamese war. 

Some photos of people affected by agent orange

After the Muesum, we stopped for a coffee break at a cafe where they served 'weasel coffee.' This, I discovered, is where they give the coffee beans to the weasel and once the weasel had done its business, they would retrieve them. Not feeling too adventurous, I opted for an iced coffee.

Weasel coffee

Next we headed to a China town- this time scam free! We went to a Chinese temple- different from the ones I'd seen yesterday- Thien Hau Pagoda, and then back to the Chinese market, which I was as unimpressed by as I'd been the day before. 

Incense at the Chinese Temple

We stopped for a quick lunch after that, and then headed to a Handicraft workshop. They would make pictures using egg shells and 'mother pearl' (similar to marble look,) which they would carve. It was all very inricate work and some of it would take months to finish. The money raised went towards helping the victims of the agent orange attacks. I wanted to buy something but was worried about the non existate space in my backpack, so in the end settled for a compact mirror. 

One of the pictures- made from eggshells 

Using the eggshells to make a picture

Drawing the design into the mother pearl so that it can be cut into shape 

Carving the inricate pattern into the table-  took 6 months to make and sold for about £10,000! 

Next we headed to the Reunification Palace. Whilst we were there it started to chuck it down! It rained so hard that some of the side bits were flooding. The palace had lots of rooms where they would hold meetings. 

Me by the Palace

Our last stop was the Notre Dame Cafhedral, which I had a brief look at, and the post office. I was surprised at what an amazing building it was. I scribbled (literally, the bus was waiting for me!) a quick post card home, and then we headed back. 

I met some cool people on the trip so hopefully we'll meet up a bit later.

I'm off to the Cu Chi tunnels tomorrow which I'm really excited about, so going to try and get an early night.