TRAVELOGUE  »  Scams, Temples and Palaces in Ho Chi Min

Our bus arrived in Ho Chi Min (formerly Saigon) in the middle of a monsoon and quickly got into a cab to take us to our hotel. After a few blocks, we noticed that the meter was already very high.

We told him to stop and asked what was going on, telling him that our hotel was very close and that it should only cost $1. He said, “no, you pay $10 or meter!”

As always, an argument ensued and we decided to leave the cab, smelling a rat. We refused to pay and, somehow, he let us get away with that.

After seeking shelter from the rain in a mall and properly looking at the map, we realized that the bus had, in fact, dropped us off a block from the hotel. Thank goodness we didn’t let the cabbie take us for a ride. Welcome to Vietnam!

Temples, Tanks and the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Min, VietNam

The next day, our only one in Ho Chi Min, we set out for a walking tour of the city that our guide book outlined.

We managed to get lost a few times, but saw the old post office, a few beautiful temples from the inside, many more from the outside, war remnants such as tanks and helicopters on display and a wide variety of architecture.

After spending nearly an hour searching for an ice cream parlor with no success, we got caught in monsoon rains and had to take solace in the Reunification Palace

The Reunification Palace is especially important to history, as when it was overrun by the North Vietnamese army in 1975 it marked the end of the Vietnam war. Propaganda-filled exhibits were on every floor: a theme that would continue throughout the country.

I also got a kick out of seeing the old spy communications rooms, still preserved with their old-school phones, computers and more. We opted not to watch the hour-long film on the history of the country and just headed home instead when the rain slowed down.