sai gon again

I finally left Quy Nhon on the night sleeper train that arrived here around 7 AM yesterday. The train ride was very good, better and easier than I thought it would be. I had my own compartment (4 beds per) for almost the first half of the trip and was then joined by 2 Vietnamese men. I actually got about 6 hours of sleep as the bed was comfortable and the gentle rocking of the train was sleep inducing. Being able to get up and walk around (especially to the food/bar car that hung off the end!) made things very easy. I met an Australian woman in the food car, shattering my illusion that I was the only foreigner on the train. I'm still assuming that she and her husband and myself were the only 3. Please don't tell me there were more!

Being back in Sai Gon is nice as I feel it's more my home than anywhere else in Vietnam. I'm back in the familiar backpacker district where I know my way around and a fair amount of English is spoken. I have less than 2 days left here. Some of the waitresses in the restaurants actually remembered me from 2 weeks ago and that made me really feel like I'd returned to some sort of home. I had breakfast yesterday at one of these restaurants and the girl offered me some sort of black and very bitter 'health drink' after I had finished what I ordered. I still have no idea what it was, maybe some sort of root extract. Supposedly it keeps skin young and healthy and even prevents cancer. I have not been diagnosed with cancer in the 24 hours that have elapsed, so that proves it beyond any doubt. I drank only a small amount, maybe a few tablespoons, but the girl, encouraged by an older woman there, downed a full glass. Then her face contorted and she ran for the trash can and vomited! I feel we have a very special bond now. And there's another case of too much of a good thing.

Yesterday I visited The Palace, officially known as the Reunification Palace. Before that it was called the Independence Palace before the south was 'liberated' by the north. Seems every politician has their own name for the place. That's why most just refer to it as The Palace. It's a fascinating place and I had looked forward to visiting it when I returned here from the north. They've left most if it in the same state it was in on April 30, 1975, the day the Viet Cong stormed through the gates and Sai Gon fell and the war really came to an end. American troops had long since departed, but some American and other officials had to be evacuated. I can just imagine how important having the right connections would have been in a situation like that! There was only so much time and so many helicopter trips that could be done. The most interesting part of The Palace is the basement where there exist actual warrooms with their walls plastered with maps and military data, all left untouched. All the phones are rotary dial and all the machines have analog dials on them. Truly old school.


Here are some photos from Quy Nhon and The Palace.









Reminiscent of the Victorians in San Francisco, I wish I had stayed at this hotel in Quy Nhon, but it's a bit far out from the center of town.

View from The Palace out towards the front gate where a Viet Cong tank came crashing through on April 30, 1975. The view today is of a radically different Sai Gon and Vietnam.

One of the warrooms in the basement of The Palace. Reminds me of my third grade classroom.

This is a rubber tree on the grounds of The Palace.