Day 65 - Friday March 3 - Saigon

Saigon photos

position at 8:00 am: N10 45.04 latitude E106 44.35 longitude
(Ho Chi Minh City)
temperature: 78F, 100% humidity, cloudy
distance since FLL: 21,944 miles

Good morning, Viet Nam! That's on a lot of the t-shirts they sell here.

It was a good morning in Viet Nam. We started moving up the Saigon river about 4am. Sunrise was at 6:13am but by 5:45am you could see well enough to appreciate the beauty of the trip up river. Lots of water and what looked like water plots for growing something like fish or crayfish or something. It looked a little deep for rice. It was a twisting route upriver as we turned first one way and then the other to follow the meandering river. Then we could see Saigon and some skyscrapers in the hazy distance. At about 5 minutes to seven, we played special people and slipped down the stairs on the stern from deck 12 to deck 11 to stake out a prime outside corner table. Then when LaVeranda opened for breakfast at 7am, we were there. We sat there about 30 minutes eating breakfast and watching the final piece of the cruise up river.

We approached the dock with buses and a welcome committee on the port side, passed it, spun around and docked on the starboard side at about 8:00am.

We went on a Highlights of Saigon Tour. Here is the ship's tour description.

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Duration: 4 Hours.
Seated, Wheelchair.


This excursion introduces you to the major highlights of bustling and historic Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. Its grand old buildings, including the 'wedding cake-style' Hotel d'Ville and historic Rex Hotel, tower over colorful markets and, of course, an endless stream of bicycles, cycles and motorbikes.

The former Presidential Palace is now known as the Reunification Hall and has been converted into a museum for the public. Afterward, you will drive on to the History Museum, built in 1929 and home to an excellent collection of artifacts illustrating the evolution of Vietnam, from the Bronze-Age Dong Son to modern-day. You'll see a short performance of traditional water puppetry, once the entertainment for kings and emperors.
You will then embark your own 'pedicab'. Your personal driver will transfer you from the botanical garden to Notre Dame Cathedral. On the way, take a photo stop at the Notre Dame Cathedral, then visit the Colonial-styled central post office to see rare ancient maps decorated on the dome inside the building. Another photo stop will be at the former U.S. Embassy, which has been recently rebuilt. From central Saigon, the tour continues into the heart of Cho Lon, or 'big market', more commonly known as Chinatown. A short walk into Cho Lon Market will provide you with a glimpse of the busy trading area. The streets are full of life and color, and numerous street stalls abound amidst hundreds of hidden temples, shrines and pagodas. Simply amazing!

Conclude your tour with a visit to the Thien Hau Temple, which dates to the late 18th-century and is dedicated to the Goddess Protector of Sailors. At the conclusion of your visit to Chinatown, you will return to the port.
Please note: Traffic can be heavy, so the order of the sites visited may vary.
Price: $45 pp
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There was no line when we went down to deck 4 to catch our tour bus at about 8:05am, so we walked right off the ship and were directed to the second bus. The first bus had just filled right in front of us and we were about the 4th or 5th people on second bus. Well, you had to know that things were just going too smoothly. Our bus filled up except for a missing wife and another couple whose husband was holding 2 seats for the three of them. (Jamie had explicitly asked people not to to this...ie board a bus before your entire group was present). Our bus started to leave and he got up and stopped us. The guide and our RSSC rep, a priest, asked him to take his wife's bag and leave the bus to wait for her. He refused. Finally, the wife showed up and they debated whether to get back on the bus with her bag or to take her bag and wait for the other couple. Well, we saw bus 3 and 4 leave, and finally they all reboarded, and finally we were off. The tour turned out very well despite the delayed start. The guide whose name was pronounced Hi was a hoot. He thought himself to be a cross between Johnny Carson and Hennie Youngman. He could deliver a line, and he had the bus in stitches in a few minutes. His accent added to the jovial atmosphere. He was also very informative as well. The guide paid for a coil of incense to burn with a prayer for Navigator and the people on it. Clay told him we would prefer he pray for Voyager. So, he changed it and a passenger lit it and they hung it from the ceiling. We loved the water puppet show. It was hilarious, especially the dragons. They spewed flames and smoke, even underwater! And when their flames went out they sucked up water and spit it at each other and towards us. The puppets have no legs. The puppets and later the puppeteers were up to their hips in water. It was charming. Then the pedicab or cyclo ride. That was amazing. At one point turning left across oncoming traffic, Debbie just covered her face and screamed. When she opened her hands she was completely surrounded by, and face-to-face with Vietnamese people on scooters all laughing at her. It was too funny. Ho Chi Minh City is a much happier place than Hanoi. Of course, the sun shining here and not there may have had a lot to do with mood. But, the guide said the moods in the 2 cities are just different. This was one of our best tours yet.

After the tour, we got off the bus in front of the Rex Hotel at about 12:45pm. The bus was returning to the ship, but RSSC was running complimentary shuttles from the port to the Rex Hotel every 30 minutes or so. We went to the top floor and had lunch. We ate inside because it was just too hot and humid and noisy outside. It was very nice and covered from the sun, but we prefered the quieter air-conditioned room. We both ate from the Vietnamese menu. Clay had pork simmered in a clay pot with steamed rice. Debbie had white noodles in broth with sliced roast pork. Clay had a Saigon 333 beer and Debbie had a Coke. We enjoyed lunch very much. It cost about $12.50USD. After lunch, we walked Le Loi Blvd. and shopped. We walked all the way down (about 3-4 blocks) to Ben Thanh, a big covered market full of stalls of every kind. You could get a pedicure or buy fish, buy a hat or underwear. We worked our way through there and then walked back to the Rex Hotel and waited for the next shuttle bus. We got back to the ship about 4:30pm. We had a good day.

Tonight all the restaurants except Compass Rose are closed for a BBQ on the pool deck at 7pm. At 9pm they are having a local Vietnamese Folklore Show with traditional costumes, music and dance in Constellation Theater. We are looking forward to that.

Tomorrow we have to leave the ship at 8:30am to head off on our overland trip through Cambodia. More adventure awaits.

Saigon photos