We started our morning by going to Ben Thanh Market for breakfast. We walked around a little bit and I bought some Ginger tea leaves and Lotus tea leaves. At the same little shop, we tried a lot of different kinds of dried fruit. They were all so good. Much better than the dried fruit back in the states.
After breakfast we went to Independence Palace, or the Hall of Reunification. The grounds are very beautiful. There are a lot of trees, the blooms all smell wonderful. I was surprised they didn’t bother my allergies. We went to the first level of bunkers inside the Palace and saw all the control rooms. We didn’t get to see much else inside because they closed.
After we got back from lunch we had some time to explore. Kristina, Crystal, and I all went to Tao Dan Park. The park is interesting. There are shrubs that look like dragons and exercise machines that are open to the public. There isn’t much space here for people to be able to own exercise equipment in their own homes, so it is nice that those can be provided for them. We then ventured a little further to the War Remnants Museum. The museum is very sad. On the second floor, there is a whole room dedicated to the effects of the chemicals sprayed over Vietnam by the US, mostly agent orange. It is very sad to see all of the pictures and read the little stories with them. We made it back to the hotel successfully on our own. It was a very quiet trip back.
We then went to Com Nieu Saigon with Mr. Stanley for dinner. So fun! For certain dishes they cook the rice in a clay pot and when they bring it to your table they break the pot around the clay and then throw the rice across the room to another waiter holding a plate. We also had the grilled flower buds with our rice and pork. The flowers are picked before they bloom and then cooked. They taste delicious with the pork and the rice.
We are closing in on the end of our first week. Excited for what has yet to come and sad for the end.