I can really notice a difference from now and when I visited 15 years ago. The biggest surprise is that there are so few disabled people now, I vividly remember seeing very deformed people all over the city, as a 13 year old I was shocked by the left overs of the war and surprised that agent orange was still having such an effect so many years on.
Today I asked my guide where all these beggars had gone and it turns out they have a new prime minister who has changed a lot. They are working towards a modern Vietnam with no beggars and lots of redevelopment and modernisation.
As a tourist it's almost a shame because it was such an interesting, historical country last time I was here but I understand as a country they are keen to move forward and progress. Apparently they have 'open houses' for disabled people which is supported by the government and encourages beggars off the streets and into jobs making souvenirs and trinkets.
Today we did a city tour and our tour guide showed off the best bit of her city. This consisted of the 'Notre Dame Church' a church built when the French were here. She was enthusiastic about how incredible the building was but Edd and I both left feeling it was a poor version on the Paris one with a few stain glass windows that the Vietnamese have struggled to maintain.
We also saw the central post office and the presidential palace which is no longer occupied so is open to visitors. The same happened again when the enthusiastic tour guide showed us around the 'beautiful' building, with 'modern' architecture and 'regal' deco, but it reminded me of a 70's front lounge in someone's house.
We spent a couple of hours in the war museum which is a very graphic explanation of what happened during the war. I had been before and didn't really enjoy re-reading the horror stories. We had lunch in a busy noodle restaurant before heading to china town.
We are both so pleased we went to China town as it was chaos and brilliant to see! We started at a beautiful, 300 year old Chinese temple with incense everywhere and then moved to the local whole sale market. We got out of the mini bus and were bombarded with motor bikes everywhere, in all directions, loaded high with products from lots of brightly coloured stalls.
Every time I thought it couldn't get busier or smaller alley ways through the stalls of clothes, shoes, fabric, food, dried fish, grains, pots, pans and bowls we turned a corner and there were more people and products.
It was like nothing I have ever seen before and we were buzzing when we left. I was so pleased to be back in the aircon bus but it was brilliant to watch people trying to carry away as much as they could balance on the back of their bikes.
We had an afternoon break in the hotel, the midday sun is so hot and you need a break to cool down and re start. So this evening we found a local brewery and, although the front looked dodgy, the inside was very western and modern.
Edd then walked me to a lovely restaurant where the staff seemed desperate to practise their English and there was no menu. No menu works well for us as it saves having to work out what to order but also Edd eats what I don't want to/can't. Early to bed tonight before an early start in the morning to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels.
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