'Must see's' in Bangkok and Ho Chi Min City

[cruiser77]

What are the 'must see's' in Bangkok and Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)?

I am asking early since our cruise is not until November but hey, what ever makes the time go faster, right? ;)

 

Somebody mentioned somenthing about water puppets in Vietnam in one of the threads, what exactly is that?

 

All help greatly appreciated!

Cruiser77:)

[Spikesgirl]

We did ship's tours in both these cities, so I'm not sure if these are exactly 'must see' plcaes, but we did enjoy them.

 

The Grand Palace is fascinating, but do be advised that they are very serious about the 'no shorts, no sleeveless shirts' rule. We had some guys who tried to blow this off and were forced to dress in supplied clothes under palace guards. We took a change with us.

 

The Golden Buddha was interesting, as was the Emerald Buddha, but my favorite was the Nong Nooch Botannical gardens. We didn't stay there very long, but it was sure a beautiful place.

 

The water puppets were part of our tour of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). It was at the National History Museum and was okay. Both sets and puppets were in need of some refurbishing (sorry, I'm in the theater and notice such things),. They also do some stuff with gun powder that can get pretty overwhelming, so if you have breathing problems you might not want to sit too close to the stage.

 

I wasn't tremendously overwhelmed with Saigon, although they have a very pretty post office.

 

if you want, e mail me at charliekirby@comcast.net and I will be happy to send you our travel diary which has a lot more detail.

 

Charlie

[A J Theodore]

Here, cribbed from a three-year old posting of mine: Saigon is a real gem – you are fortunate to be able to go there before the real tourist rush hits (something that is already starting). Saigon (no one calls it Ho Chi Minh City) is a fascinating place.

Center city is a good place to start, and you can use either the Ho Chi Minh monument or the Rex Hotel as a point of reference. Rex, of course, famous from the war. You can walk down Le Loi St. (I believe) to the Ben Thanh Market. Ben Thanh Market will have everything from lacquer (some of it quite good) to music CDs (mostly pirated, and quality can vary substantially) to clothes (at decent prices) to food stuffs (wonderful variety) to good folk art. I bought a very good suitcase for $55. The merchants will take U.S. dollars in bills of various denominations (none larger than a $20 bill) as they are widely accepted. Do not buy food there or anywhere along the street unless you have an absolutely iron stomach. The best thing is to smell the street food as you walk by.

I understand that there is now a new market across the street from the Rex and it is supposedly very good and will have things Western tourists are interested in.

Make sure to look for an Ao Dai (pronounced “ow yay”), traditional women's clothing of Viet Nam. They can be fitted in the course of a single day. There are English speaking shops next to the Rex. Don't forget the pants to go with the tunic.

 

Saigon things to see and do:

1. The National Museum. Wonderful historic collections, emphasizes Vietnamese struggles against Chinese colonialism; this was the central theme of Vietnamese history until the French arrived in the 19th century.

2. The MUST SEE in Saigon. At the museum is my all-time favorite attraction in Viet Nam and one of my favorites in the world: The water puppets. DO NOT MISS THE WATER PUPPETS. Rearrange your schedule if need be to see these. The puppets (actually marionettes operated by underwatrer sticks) perform on the surface of the water. Take your video camera and do not sit in the front row - there will be dragons spouting water at each other and at the audience. If no longer at the museum, it is well-worth searching them out.

3. There is a wonderful children's park next door to the museum.

4. Chinese Temple near the Cathedral. Good if you have nothing else to do with your time but it is like many other Chinese temples elsewhere.

5. Other historic sites include the well-restored Presidential Palace and the building where the U.S. Embassy used to be (remember the helicopters lifting off from the roof). Unless you specifically request it (or want to go out of town to the Cu Chi Tunnels from the war, see below) there is very little about the war that the Vietnamese will emphasize; the concern now is economic growth and diversification. The vietnamese with whom we spoke (obviously not a representative sample of the country), seemed to treat the war as history.

6. Cu Chi Tunnels. Only if you have a real interest in the war and are not claustrophobic. They are at a long distance from the city and you will use up a lot of time going back and forth (and traffic is just atrocious); moreover, they have been significantly enlarged so that tourists will fit into them. Personally, I would pass on this unless you have a real interest and are going to be there for at least a couple of days and have a real interest in the war. In fact, getting anywhere outside of Saigon is difficult given the traffic situation.

7. Although I did not try them, there are now dinner cruises on the Saigon river. There are also some very fine restaurants in Saigon.

8. Walk around, soak up atmosphere, enjoy the city, watch out for motorbikes and traffic.

Hope that this helps.

[DonahCBrown]

What are the 'must see's' in Bangkok and Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)?

I am asking early since our cruise is not until November but hey, what ever makes the time go faster, right? ;)

 

Somebody mentioned somenthing about water puppets in Vietnam in one of the threads, what exactly is that?

 

All help greatly appreciated!

Cruiser77:)

 

 

Just back from the Sapphire - not the bad cruise, the two before that -

 

Bangkok - Grand Palace, Temples of the Golden, Reclining, and Emerald Buddhas, long tail boat ride, morning floating market

 

Saigon/HMC City - maybe because it was at the end of the two cruise for us, but I wasn't all that taken with the city, but, that said - after Princess bought out all the seats at the National Museum's Water Puppet show, our tour provider got a special show for us at a theatrical venue called the Golden Dragon Theater - they are normally only open at night, but she got a special matinee for us - and it was really well done - unlike Charlie's comment below - these puppets were in very good condition and the show was lively and very entertaining. There's a website for the Golden Dragon, and it gives you some idea of the 'narrative' of the play, but basically, there are people behind a curtain, a pond of rather muddy looking water, and puppets that are manipulated by - I assume - poles or sticks, which are under the water (which is why the water is murky) The whole tradition goes back for hundreds of years and seems to follow a certain traditional standard 'storyline' - not unlike the old Punch and Judy shows.

 

There's a main character who is a typical sort of 'country bumpkin' peasant, and an assortment of other characters, some human, some mythical - there are ducks, cats, dragons, water bird like critters of some kind I couldn't identify. The peasant gets himself in all kinds of trouble, he chases the ducks around, the cat chases the ducks, the peasant chases the cat, the water critters dance, there is some kind of trouble, the dragons come, they do a sort of dance, there are fireworks, then there's a baby dragon, all of which seems to be about assuring the prosperity of the village. Takes about 45 minutes or so, there are live musicians in gorgeous traditional costumes and dialog, which, of course, is in Vietnamese...That's about the best I can do in terms of telling you what it is, but it was great fun, very colorful, and the music was very good at providing you with the 'emotional' cues. The puppeteers come out at the end and greet everyone and they are soaking wet, so whatever they are doing back there involves being in and/or under the water. The movement of the puppets is amazing, too - very fast, very smooth. The theater is nice, fairly new, air conditioned, which was very welcome - it was a very steamy day when we were there.

 

Other than that, we went to the Reunification Hall, the Rex Hotel, the market, and had lunch at the noodle house that Bill Clinton stopped at, which is generally now known as 'The President's Noodle House" although that isn't its real name - it is across the street from the market and opposite a nice park. The ride into town from Vung Tau is about 2 to 2.5 hours, roads not great, traffic pretty heavy. There's also a hydrofoil that some of the people on the cruise with us took from Vung Tau - about 90 minutes, but I also heard it wasn't all that reliable. We also toured in and around Vung Tau and found that to be a very nice and surprisingly interesting tour.