Last night we arrived at our hotel, the Hotel Majestic, around 11 p.m local time. It was an exhausting day of traveling, so I went to bed shortly after our arrival. But not before I took a quick walking tour of the city with our professor.
One of my first questions was about the name of the city. Some people call it Saigon, and some call it Ho Chi Minh City. Our tour guide informed me that many people from Southern Vietnam still call it Saigon, since it was Saigon for more than 300 years before it became Ho Chi Minh City in 1975.
The Western influence is quite striking. Today we visited the Post Office, which was designed by Gustav Eiffel, and Notre Dame Cathedral. Next, we moved to more political sites, visiting the War Remnants Museum (originally called the American War Crimes Museum) and the Reunification Palace. The Reunification Palace is a beautiful building, but the Vietnamese government does not use it because it has "bad feng shui."
I'm not sure if it just the places we visited, but it seemed to me that the Europeans were responsible for many of the historical sites in Vietnam. One of my favorite aspects of my trip to China was visiting all of the historical sites that demonstrated the richness of the Chinese history. I didn't get the same feeling from the historical sites we visited in Saigon.
In addition to the obvious Western influence, one of the biggest differences I've noticed between Saigon and Beijing is the preferred mode of transportation. The Chinese use bicycles, while the Vietnamese prefer motorbikes. But they both drive the same way. Our professor told us you need to keep going once you commit to crossing the street. If you are moving, then you are more predictable. I think I prefer bicycles. Then don't seem as dangerous.
We had the afternoon free, so I did a little shopping. I'm off to the pool to relax for a bit before our reception on our hotel's rooftop this evening.
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