Hot Saigon!
An early morning shuttle transported us from Hoi An to the nearby airport in Da Nang. Along the way we made brief stops at Da Nang's Dragon Bridge and to see its beautiful silver strand of urban beach (strongly reminded me of Waikiki).
After landing at Saigon's Tan Son Nhat International Airport and being shuttled into the heart of the city my first impression was "wow, Saigon is even hotter than Hoi An!"
I say this acknowledging that, being a Phoenician, we are not exactly wimps when it comes to hot weather. Each year we masochistically count the number of days (in a row!) when our daytime temperatures exceed 110° F.
In the summer of 2023, we set an awful record with 54 days at, or above, 110° F. Yep, it was hell.
Yet adding one drop of moisture to our heat and Phoenicians (like me) just melt 🫠. So the climate of Ho Chi Minh City, where heat is saturated with humidity, just hammered me.
In fact, our guides chided us that Saigon only has two seasons; hot and damn hot! Lucky for us, our visit was in "hot" season 😓.
A sidebar rant....
For any of you brain dead idiots still clinging to some anti-science fantasy that climate change is just cyclical or some kind of left wing hoax, as glaciers recede and ice caps melt, know that thinking humans believe God wasted a brain (and certainly a heart) on you.
Please do not vote or have children.
OK, now back to the post....
Despite the heat (?!) our first stop was lunch and a big steaming bowl of
very hot Phó.
Phó Rush - Lunchtime Saigon
Lunch was followed by a tour a tour of Saigon's mid-century modern Independence (or Presidential) Palace. The Palace was conceived in 1962 by ill fated president Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem, was murdered the next year in a coup and never saw his completed palace.
The building, finished in 1966, was designed by the celebrated Vietnamese architect Ngo Viet Thu. Thu was a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was the recipient of The First Grand Prize of Rome in 1955. He went on to be the first Asian architect to be accorded the title of Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
The palace ultimately served as the home of the leader of the military junta Nguyen Van Thieu and his family. They lived there until just before the final defeat of the Republic of South Vietnam in 1975. The Palace was the site of South Vietnam's surrender.
Saigon's Independence Palace
s 
Scooter Parking at the Saigon Opera House
Modern Saigon's Bitexco (Tony Stark's) Tower Rises Above Old Saigon
The next morning we cycled in the countryside with a stop to visit the Viet Cong's Cu Chi Tunnels complex. Our tour began with a presentation and question and answer period conducted by a former Viet Cong guerilla and inhabitant of the tunnels.
Tunnel Presentation
We learned how the 75 mile complex of tunnels was designed and compartmentalized. Sections were built at various depths to absorb blast impacts and included with features such as smoke chambers to trap and hold smoke from cooking for eventual dissipation at night.
More adventurous visitors could enter and explore sections of the tunnels. No way Mr. 6'-4" was gonna venture down there.
A Concealed Tunnel Entrance
Lifting a Access Portal
The balance of this day's ride took us through vast groves of banana trees and rubber plantations.
The history of Vietnam's rubber industry is laden with sadness and heartache. The plantations began by the French (Michelin), were significantly destroyed by the Japanese, and then resurrected by Americans.
Working in the rubber plantations was pure hell. Writer Tran Tu Binh states that the bodies of plantation workers all eventually "become fertilizer for the capitalists' rubber trees".
Rows of Rubber Trees
Dripping Latex
Between understanding the use of the Cu Chi tunnels and the history of the rubber plantations it was a day for reflection on the durability of the human spirit.
The next (and final) day of cycling was a 21 mile tour in the Mekong Delta. Along the way we passed locals transporting whole families and amazing arrays of goods on their scooters and bicycles.
Bicycles as Freight Transport
Our ride was punctuated with stops to talk to farmers raising various crops including dragon fruit and coconuts.
Coconut Harvests Require Hand Stripping of the Shells
We learned that every part of a coconut is used. I was particularly impressed by the reduced glycemic value inherent in coconut sugar and brought a tub home to use in my baking.
Many of the rows of dragonfruit were punctuated with large elevated family funerary memorials. I was fascinated that many of the fields were outfitted with lights between each row.
Dragon fruit Plants
Freshly Harvested Dragon fruit
A Sweeter Pink Variety
At one random stop we chatted with a dragon fruit farmer who was happy to show us the pink variety of dragon fruit they proudly raise. The farmer also explained that rows of lights we noted between plants were simply a way to "trick" the them into producing an additional harvest.
We sampled some fruit and I found it to be significantly sweeter than the typical we get exported to the US.
In addition to the dragon fruit and coconuts were seemingly endless rice fields. The Vietnamese rice industry produces some of the highest quality and award winning rice varieties in the world.
The Mighty Mekong River
Although the tide was out, it was clear how immense the Mekong River river is. Originating in the Tibetan Highlands, the 2,700 mile long river is critical to multinational agriculture and commerce.
What the guides did not point out to us was how the river is now dangerously low due to years of drought. It is also suffering from severe overfishing and relentless dam building on tributaries to the river in Laos and China. Hopefully, the stalled construction of the Sekong A dam (being built largely in secret by a state owned Vietnamese company) signals a reevaluation of the ecological price the dams will exact on the river for the relatively little power they will produce.
Experts studying the river have been warning that it is arguably the World's most important river and that overfishing and dam building has left it close to a ecological tipping point. A tipping point that could affect the food supply and livelihood for 70,000,000 people.
Lush Farms Along the Mekong
We shuttled back to our hotel to freshen up for our farewell dinner to be held in the former US Ambassador's residence.
The View From The Hotel Majestic
I used the time to sneak off to view Saigon's historic Victorian style post office and snag just one more egg coffee.
Egg coffee is a specialty that was reportedly created by a clever bartender at the Hotel Metropole Hanoi to compensate for milk shortages during the first Indochina war. It remains popular today as a marvelous sweet treat to be savored. The baristas at The Legends of Coffee in Saigon always caution that its creation will take at least 10 minutes. But it is so worth it. This is now my favorite coffee drink. And it makes sense to come from the country that ranks second in the world in coffee production.
Each cup requires two whipped egg yolks that are carefully creamed together with sweetened condensed milk and a little vanilla. The mixture is gently poured over slightly bitter Vietnamese (robusta) coffee. In the US some people substitute New Orleans style chicory coffee. The Legends egg coffee is served in a cradle of warm water. Upon presentation you stir and stir the mixture together to fully blend the egg mixture with the coffee and then you should take your time to thoroughly enjoy it.
Sumptuous Vietnamese Egg Coffee
Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
With a great dinner and a history lesson under our belt, we retired to the Hotel Majestic for a good nights sleep.
Our morning journey home would start early with a first leg to Seoul.
I arrived with a suitcase of unresolved emotions about Vietnam and all its name signified to someone my age. I left full of admiration for the Vietnamese people and hopes for their future.
Roadboy's Travels © 2024
