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As with my last post, this one is about two days late.

Here were the high level bullet points I made to remember this day by:

• Tour time
• Cholon -- Chinatown temple, etc.
• Riding a rickshaw through this goddamn crazy traffic
• Alley way template -- temple of 10,000 Buddhas
• Propaganda War Museum
• Lunch: "Broken rice"
• Old Coffee House w/ Bunker
• Notre Dame duplicate
• the tourist Post Office
• The Fall of Saigon rooftop
• Wandering around downtown: opera house and such.
• Printing Sean's documents

Everything is relatively cheap in Vietnam, so I ended up booking a private tour -- but also because I don't know a goddamn thing about Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City, as it is officially named; for the sack of ease, I'll just use "Saigon" for this post). I somehow found my tour guide in the crowded lobby of the hotel, and we make our way.

Cholon, not colon, and the rickshaw

First stop was "Cholon", or Chợ Lớn, located in District 5, and is the "Chinatown" in Saigon. I visited this temple, whose name I've forgotten. Once you've seen one temple, feels like I've seen them all. Although this time was a different deity, and the aesthetic definitely feels more... "Southeast Asian-ish", for lack of a better word.

Right outside this temple, is a nondescript fellow, with shifty eyes, who turned out to be the rickshaw rider. I'm not up to speed with how transactions take place, or if they worked this out in advance. But basically, there was this fellow and his rickshaw and a lady with a motorbike. I get on the rickshaw. It's hot as well. The lady in the motorbike follows close behind.

And like that, I'm swept around on this rickshaw, sticking out like a veritable sore thumb, right into this Siagonese street traffic, praying that my camera doesn't get stolen. Halfway through the ride, the rickshaw driver puts up the sun shade. Thank god.

I haven't really reflected on the ride itself, but the fact that I feel I should reflect on it probably says more about it than anything else. Logistics aside, it just seems like a really different environment, and a very different life. I'm actually just a little more self-conscious about my position here: a relatively well-off tourist, sticking out like a sore thumb, and riding along on this rickshaw without every having to deal with the rabble of taking part in my surroundings or being part of the life here.

About 25 minutes later, I reach the end of said ride, and I move on.

10,000 or 11,000 Buddhas?

This next area is a little hard to describe -- I know it was in Chinatown, though like most things on my tour so far, it was very nondescript: in an alleyway, and the end of which was some type of adornment, next to a vending machine that dispensed fortunes.

The fortune-telling vending machine was some kind of attraction, so I got my fortune: just average, except that I should keep a look out for my health (which is pretty much the theme of my life at this point).

Propaganda War Museum

The official name of my next place was, "War Remnants Museum". I was not expecting much, but I'm not sure what else I was going to be doing in Saigon so here I was.

I think I'll keep this part brief. Basically, I think I got a sense of some of the politics surrounding Vietnam; most notably how lopsided history can be, especially since history is often written by the victors.

That being said, I know nothing about Vietnamese history or its politics. However, the rhetoric of the photo descriptions inside the museum left a lot to be desired.

Lunch: "Broken rice"

Lunch was "Broken Rice", otherwise known as Cơm tấm. Nothing particularly special, but I do remember it being cheap -- about 50,000 VND (or about ~$2.15 USD)

Old Coffee House w/ Bunker

My tour guide brought me to an old cafe, which apparently was an old place where someone used to smuggle weapons into, during the Vietnam War. I didn't know the name, and I unfortunately didn't ask.

However, after an odd bought of googling, I arrived at a name: Ca Phe Do Phu, although there is another article about it here, and it doesn't even mention the name -- just the address.

Given the low number of reviews, and the lack of very many patrons, I think I can safely assume that this is not a very well known place. My first impressions seem to exemplify my experience in Vietnam so far: an air of informality is so pervasive, as I literally just stepped inside, through the kitchen, up some steps, and onto a balcony. No one was there to show you in, and no one greeted us at the front.

Out of nowhere, an old man shows up, sets down some snacks and cold tea. The guide orders coffee, and that was that.

But what happen after coffee took an unexpected turn. I head downstairs, and am introduced to the "cellar" through a literal hole in the ground -- presumably where the weapons smuggling of lore took place.

Notre Dame duplicate, the Tourist's Post Office

Through some French colonial influences, a facsimile of the Notre Dame Cathedral also happened to be here.

For whatever reason, the adjacent post office is also popular with tourists, and features a rather gaudy photo of Ho Chi Minh (a staple in any communist or dictatorship really). I'm told that the post office is an attraction of sorts, because it is a remnant of French Colonial times -- so its been in operation for quite some time.

The Fall of Saigon rooftop, and, "The French Quarter".

As I stepped into the plaza area in front of the post office, my tour guide shared with me one of the most iconic photos of the US withdrawal of Vietnam: the last evacuation helicopter sitting on a rooftop, followed by a throng of potential Vietnamese refugees who are attempting to leave.

The most surprising part is that the building still exists, and here is yet another strange turn that the tour takes.

My tour says, "I can get you in to see the roof top; I just need to distract the guard". ...... which made me really wonder if some shady stuff was really going down, and a moment of trepidation set in.

We approached the building doors, the guide says, "Wait here", and he goes in. He steps out and says, "Okay, all set", and we proceed up to the rooftop on the 6th floor. It's then that I see why this area could be called, "The French Quarter". The brown / beige tile rooftops definitely gave it away.

Wandering around downtown: opera house and such.

There wasn't much on the itinerary -- there was the opera house, outside of which I had my photo taken. What happened after that, I don't remember too much.

And thusly the day outside ended. I promptly retreated to the confines of my local cave (the Grand Hotel Saigon), and because I will most likely remember this day for one task I had to do for Sean, I think I'll mention it here.

So Sean hands me a USB key and asks that I print out some documents. I head to the "business center" of my hotel, thinking nothing about what I'm about to do and say, "print everything on this USB key, thanks". A hundred some-odd pages later, the lovely lady who was assisting me says, "The charge is 6,000 VND per page". She was kind enough to cap my page count to 60 pages -- so I had an unplanned 360,000 VND charge. Meh.

... and thusly, the day ended!