Photo Log - 2011/12 - Vietnam
 In Saigon they seem to have tons of stuff on sale for the end of year, although they don't celebrate xmas or boxing day. This electronics store had shipping crates full of products and looked like they were doing fine at attracting customers.The streets of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Sun Dec 18, 2011 - 17:08) |
 Traffic in Saigon is just as bad as in Cambodia and actually quite a bit busier since there are something like 8 million people living in the area.Saigon at night (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Sun Dec 18, 2011 - 20:05) |
 The jade pagoda is one of the attractions here but didn't seem to be any more impressive than any other temples anywhere else. The temples in Vietnam though do have a weird mix of chinese and vietnamese heritage, due to almost 1000 years of occupation by the chinese.Jade pagoda in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Mon Dec 19, 2011 - 14:02) |
 At night the traffic doesn't get any better... this is one of the main traffic circles in district 1, right in front of the Ben Thanh market.Saigon at night (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Mon Dec 19, 2011 - 21:40) |
 The palace in Saigon has been rebuilt and renamed several times in the past 150 or so years. Most recently in 1962 it was partly destroyed by bombs from the air in civil conflict. After it was demolished and rebuilt to the current version. It's still in use today for government functions.The Independence Palace in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Tue Dec 20, 2011 - 10:32) |
 Most of the palace contains fairly elaborate rooms such as banquet rooms and the president's office. This room is supposed to be where visiting officials present their credentials to the leaders.The Independence Palace in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Tue Dec 20, 2011 - 10:43) |
 On the roof is marked where the two bombs landed in 1962, destroying the left wing of the palace.The Independence Palace in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Tue Dec 20, 2011 - 10:54) |
 One for Mimi, I guess.. :PA clinic in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Tue Dec 20, 2011 - 12:16) |
 This church belongs to a religion called Caodaism that was founded in an attempt to unify all people under a single religion, so it encompasses principles from Christianity, Islam, etc.Cao Dai church in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Wed Dec 21, 2011 - 10:56) |
 Thien is one of the senior aikido students in Saigon and offered to take me around the city the next day after we had class. He took me through Chinatown and a few other places including this church. A monk (?) showed us around and took us up to the top of this tower to check out the view.Cao Dai church in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Wed Dec 21, 2011 - 11:18) |
 Wed night is the main weekly swing dance, at this section of a large cafe near the zoo. It was Dec 21 when I was there so they were having their Christmas theme dance with most people wearing red or white.Swing dancing in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Wed Dec 21, 2011 - 22:16) |
 I took a 3-day tour down in the Mekong delta, south of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city). One of the features of the trip is the floating markets throughout the area. The farms all send their goods down to markets like this one where they sell everything off wholesale to the retailers who distribute goods to the villages. The boats each hoist whatever's for sale up on a tall bamboo pole so that buyers can find what they want.Floating market in the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 12:16) |
 The delta has a whole mix of different buildings built on the rivers, most of them pretty rustic.A town on the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 12:21) |
 We made various other stops including at some of the different places where rice is processed. Here we're seeing how rice wine is produced.Making rice wine in the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 12:25) |
 Coconut is obviously another staple and here they use it to make a soft candy which is a lot like toffee.Making coconut candy in the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 12:34) |
 I'm not sure what they had a snake at this shop for, since it was a honey factory. But here, like at most souvenir shops, they had lots of snakeskin stuff for sale.Snake in the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 13:04) |
 We boated past a few different towns as we were seeing the markets and the other things on the tour. I still haven't figured out what all the antennas are for.A town on the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 13:10) |
 At once place where we stopped for lunch there was free time for a while when we could bike around the area. These trees were lychee and you could also find lots of banana and papaya.Lychee trees in the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 14:53) |
 For this part of the tour they took us on some small local boats that are used throughout the delta. We rowed out for about 20 mins back to our motorboat before heading on to the next stop.A canal in the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Thu Dec 22, 2011 - 15:28) |
 We visited another floating market, the largest one in the delta. Everyone's hard at work ignoring the tourist boats.Floating village in the Mekong delta (Can Tho, Vietnam - Fri Dec 23, 2011 - 09:18) |
