Vietnam Saigon - Day 4 (July 9, 2010)

Chợ Lớn (Cholon/堤岸)   (literally, market big)
Chợ Lớn is the Chinatown district of Saigon. I have been longing to visit this place since I was little, when my father's mother and sisters went there frequently, and brought back lovely souvenirs and pleasing snacks. Happy childhood memories.

Here is the Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce

where the businessmen from China's Guangzhou city (aka Canton) networked and made deals, and settled disagreements.

It is combined with Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu
(temple of heaven's queen/天后庙), frequented by Chinese fishermen to pray for Her blessings.

The stay at Chợ Lớn is too short to satisfy my curiosity about this place since childhood.



Mỹ Tho (美拖) (literally, 我的寿) is the next stop.

About 75 km to the south-west of HCM city, My Tho is in the Mekong River delta area, rich in fruits and fisheries.  (Note: there are no hills in the delta; thus, we see grave yards among the paddy fields.)

My goodness!

We arrive at the pier where pretty Jane March (ooh la la) and handsome Tony Leung (梁家辉) first met on a ferry, during the French colonial period, in 'The Lover' movie!

In the making of the movie, their love nest was located in the above-mentioned Chợ Lớn district.

From there, we take a short ferry trip  

to Coconut Island (Đảo Dừa / 椰岛),

where we witness the making of coconut bonbon.

and, try out various fruits in a Taisan Island (泰山岛) orchard,

while some Vietnamese folk songs are sung. 


That girl in yellow ao dai grows her hair down to her heels.  

But my concentration is disturbed by some stingy things hanging over my head.

Next, we try to get a feel of an under-cover guerrilla boat ride in the Mekong delta (芹椰紅樹林),

using nature to block detection from helicopters,

wearing mu tre, previously worn by many other comrades (gung-ho tourists).

On the return trip, we are served coconut juice in a coconut.

The seat in front of me is initially empty. Then, a young Viet lady drops in, in front of me. She is given a free ride.

When others start to praise her appearance, she says thanks in Chinese Cantonese, and that she learns the dialect from her husband from HK.

(Vietnam has married away quite a few good young brides.)

She then uses her blue silk neckerchief to strap her hat to her chin, as seen in the photo.

When the conversation withers, she extends the blue neckerchief upwards to cover her faces, and put on her sunglasses.

Very smart measures to protect her fair faces from the tropical ultra-violet rays,

though not as serious as some other female motorists on the hot sunny roads.

Back to HCM City.

Rush hour after work.

The War Museum is the next, and is a must.

Click here, for an overview from YouTube

A 'torture center'

Deformed children of parents who have been in touch with Agent Orange.  The parents initially thought the damage was to the womb. So they hoped the next child would be normal.

It turned out that the damage was on the parents, who then gave birth to series of deformed children.  (And it caused damages to those Americans who handled the Agent Orange, too.)

See the bomb holes caused by carpet bombing?
 
Click here, to watch a carpet bombing in Vietnam 
Click here, to watch a girl surviving napalm bombing
She lives, and later migrates to Toronto.

Briefly, napalm is jellied gasoline. When the bomb exploded, napalm splashed to all over the places and stuck there (e.g. human bodies and clothes), and continued the burning, causing a lot more damages than pure gasoline which tends to evaporate upwards. Click here, for a Wiki summary of napalm.

(L) The Mamas & The Papas singing California Dreamin'

 
(R) A clipping from The Apocalypse Now (1979 movie) 

Peace,please!!

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Show
Some of the water puppets.

The behind-the-screen and half-wet operators.

Half of the narrators and musicians.

Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn
(House of Notre-Dame in Saigon/西贡圣母大教堂)

It started small in 1876, and got to the current design in 20 years.

Bưu Điện Thành Phố (Post Office/邮政局)

Built in1886, and designed by Gustave Eiffel, who also designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

(The timely surrender of South Vietnam saved these beautiful colonial buildings.)

Diamond Plaza is just next door.

The local tour guide allures us to its Food Court on 3/F, where we try the most delicious spring rolls in Vietnam, at the "Wrap & Roll" shop.

Dinner cruise on Saigon River - from the Tôn Đức Thắng pier

Entertainers circulate themselves among 3 decks of guests.

Note the ao dai in light green colour? So pretty.

Click here, to watch this band play and a fire hula dance





Phở 24
The last night at Saigon!  So, even with full stomach from the river cruise dinner, we walk across the street from the hotel to Pho 24, a chain restaurant for noodles.

* Pho is rice noodle in soup (河粉).
(Recall that they got rid of alphabet f?
They use ph, instead.)

* 24 means that they are open 24 hours a day, and that the soup is made with 24 ingredients. Quite yummy.

Easier to sleep tight with a full stomach. Cheers!