1. Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee
Building
The northern end of Nguyen Hue Street at Le Thanh
Ton Street
Start your Vietnam Passage tour in the little park
featured in the film and you'll find that the contrasts
found in every aspect of Saigon life loom large. The
exquisite former Hotel de Ville built for the French
bureaucrats of Indochina in 1901 belies Vietnam's colonial
past-yet today it is home to the Communist equivalent
of HCM City's city council. Take a moment to study the
statue of Ho Chi Minh, the revolutionary leader after
whom the city was named in 1975 when the North finally
captured the South after decades of fighting. ("Uncle
Ho," as he was known, actually only spent a few
days in the city when he was a young man.)
2. Dong Khoi Street
From Nguyen Hue, walk one block east to Dong Khoi ("Popular
Uprising") Street. French expatriates knew it as
Rue Catinat, and American soldiers bought their Zippo
lighters on Tu Do ("Freedom") Street, but
whatever the name,s this thoroughfare has long been
the elite shopping street of Saigon. Walk south down
Dong Khoi towards the Saigon River, and stop in at as
many elegant boutiques selling the finest Vietnamese
silks, pottery, and other crafts as you like. Hard as
it may be to believe today, North Vietnamese tanks rolled
down this very street on April 20, 1975-and soon after
most of the stores were shuttered as the new nation
plunged into a decade-long economic slump.
3. #19 Ngo Duc Ke Street
Just before you get to the river, take a left off of
Dong Khoi onto Ngo Duc Ke Street and duck into the non-descript
little seafood restaurant at #19. Besides serving some
of the best ginger chicken and fork-tender calamari
in Saigon, #19 is also the former site of the United
Press International news bureau. During the war, both
reporter David Lamb and photographer Hoang Van Cuong
filed dispatches and photos back to the U.S. from here.
Today, even if you don't have time for lunch, a rich,
creamy caphe sua da (iced coffee with sweetened
condensed milk) will give you more than enough energy
for the rest of the walking tour.
4. Cuong's Antique Shop
Turn right out of the restaurant, head out Ngo Duc
Ke and take a left onto Hai Ba Trung Street. Walk north
until you get to Dung Du Street, and if the gates are
open, knock on the door at 64. This is the antique shop
of Hoang Van Cuong, the photographer who stayed behind
in 1975-and ended up spending seven years in a reeducation
camp. His family's collection of ceramics and other
artifacts are some of the most valuable in Vietnam.
But the real gem is the second floor, where Cuong has
set up his own private museum of war photography. Ask
if you can visit and see some of the most searing images
featured in Vietnam Passage firsthand.
5. Former site of the U.S. Embassy
(now the U.S. Consulate)
Say goodbye to Cuong, head back over to Dong Khoi Street
and walk north. You'll pass two more ornate examples
of French colonial architecture, Notre Dame Cathedral
(on your left) and the Saigon Central Post Office (on
your right) as you cross Han Thuyen Street and enter
a pleasant parkland. Down Le Duan Street, to the right,
is the new United States Consulate. It was built on
the site of the old Embassy building where the most
dramatic scenes of the final days of the war played
out as Marine guards tried to keep thousands of desperate
South Vietnamese from mobbing the helicopters evacuating
personnel from the rooftop. Some, like Nguyen Duy Binh,
made it out; others, like Ann Tran, did not.
6. Reunification Palace
Walk west on Le Duan Street until it deadends at Nam
Khi Khoi Nghia Street. This large, modern building is
Reunification Palace, today a museum where tour guides
will give you the Communist government's official version
of war history. Back in 1975, this was the Presidential
Palace of the leader of South Vietnam-the target of
VC spy Nguyen Thang Trung's bombing raid on Saigon in
the final weeks of the war. Visit the various public
rooms at the museum and you can see the desk where the
last leader of South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnamese
soldiers.
7. War Crimes Museum
If you are interested in looking at the war from the
hardline Vietnamese perspective, make a visit to the
War Remnants Museum-once known as the War Crimes Museum.
Continue up Nam Khi Khoi Nghia Street, turn left onto
Vo Van Tan Street, and the museum is at # 28. However
strident and one-sided the Communist rhetoric in the
displays may be, the photos and artifacts are still
chilling testaments to the suffering war inflicted on
an entire nation. (After she was released from prison,
activist Thieu Thi Tao worked at this museum as a guide.)
8. Rex Hotel
If you aren't too sunburned, you can walk the mile
or so back down Nam Khi Khoi Nghia Street to Le Thanh
Ton, turn left and bear right to #141 Nguyen Hue Street.
(However, you shouldn't hesitate to hop in a taxi and
tell the driver to take you to the Rex! The fare should
be less than $1). This historic hotel, once the host
to the daily U.S. military briefings reporters dubbed
the "Five O'Clock Follies," fell into disrepair
after the war. But today the building, like the city
itself, is again open for business. In the lovely rooftop
garden you can sit back with an icy bottle of Bia
Saigon or a sinh to (fruit shake) and look
out over bustling, vibrant Ho Chi Minh City.
A Touch of Night Life?
9. Dinner Cruises
Cruises along the Saigon River are a wonderful way
to mark the end of a hot, sticky day. Boats of all kinds
from eloquent barges to one-man putt putts (barter ahead,
pay later), can be found along the docks between Nguyen
Hue and Dong Khoi Strreets. Life on Vietnam's waterways
is always exciting.
10. Queen Bee Night Club
The nightclub scene is thriving in Ho Chi Minh city
and The Queen Bee, once popular to homesick Gis, now
caters to tourists and locals alike. If you are lucky,
you may catch a performance by Hong Nhung, who is featured
in Vietnam Passage. But fear not, the
music is always good, and features a calvacade of performers.
Some sing western favorites, but more and more the audience
favors its own Vietnamese songs and artists. Being a
part of this exuberant crowd will be an unforgettable
memory.
*Too much walking for you? Feel free to stop by
Ann Tours, the
agency started by former U.S. Embassy secretary Ann
Tran. Her staff can arrange for a cyclo (pedicab) driver
to take you to each of the sites listed; the charge
will be approximately $5 per person excluding tip.
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