Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Ho Chin Minh - day 1

A very belated post..hehe

I am truly busy with stuff. There's alot to juggle.Beside the computer I am using now SUCKS. SO SLOW. Feel like buying a new one 'x'

anyway..lets proceed to Ho Chin Minh now shall we?

I got one thing to say about the place.

ITS HOT! SO HOT! I 'tidak tahan'! Alot motorbikes. And a lot noise pollution cos all the cars, bikes keep sounding the horn. I think that's how they communicate 'x'

After we checked into our guesthouse. We changed and proceed with Taxi to the war museum. Only to find it closed and only open at 1.30pm. So we walk around, since I've checked the map, all the major attractions are within walking distance. Then we saw the reunification palace, only to find it closed too..GRRRR, and will only open at 1.30pm also. SO i suggest we walk to the church they say look like Notre Dame in Paris.

























not bad, quite pretty the architecture. I like! But then still very hot.

Then we saw a nice building nearby.

















We saw a lot of people inside. Thinking its a market, we just go in. And its too hot to stay long outside too. It took me awhile to realize what this building is. Can you guess what it is?
























Its a post office! So nice one! Ok, for those who guess it correctly don't get a prize 'x'

Dad immediately grew excited when he found out its a post office. He after all, spent most of his working life in one. And no, my dad was not a postman. 'x'

so we hang out there and soon its 1.30pm. So we walk back to the reunification palace.



Doesn't look very palace-grand-like to me. In case you don't know, you need to go through the scanner-machinery-thingy like in the airport, before you can go into the palace compound. And one of the guard complimentedme, say I am pretty, in CHINESE! WAHAHA, he has good taste..memang I am pretty 'x' *muka tembok*

basically visitors to the palace are shown the various rooms available in the palace. The usuals, the dining rooms, YES ROOMS, got more than one dining room, and they all looked grand, like in hotel 'x', living rooms, meeting rooms, library, bedrooms, the bedrooms seem common to me, nothing fancy, they even have a small cinema.



I want these mahjong tiles. so retro!

We hang out a bit at the palace, cos it started to rain heavily. But then its STILL HOT lo!

After that we proceed to the War Museum.

Once you step into the museum, you will see various types of tanks and jets and such. I am not very interested in such stuff. I hate the war. But my dad always watch these war movies. So he was quite curious in everything.




Look at him..ahaha..look like a kid.

























ok, this is one of the prison cells in which they kept the prisoners. THIS IS NOT A REAL HUMAN ok! Whoever made this made it eerily same to the real man who was kept prisoner here for decades. What caught my attention is the scribblings in Chinese characters on the wall.


I briefly translate it here :

*clear throats*

although I am in a prison,
but my spirit is not,
in order to achieve a big goal,
one must have a bigger spirit

ok, I hope what I translated is close to what he scribbled cos my mandarin is really BAD. never get good grade for mandarin during my schooling days.


There are a lot of graphical photos taken during the war. But I shall spare you the agony. Some photos are really heart-wrenching. And my blog is a happy blog. 'x'

there's alot of parks nearby these buildings. And most of them are packed with people.



Just chatting and loitering, doing nothing, under the VERY HOT SUN. How can they tahan??!!

4 comments:

Vampire said...

so shiok ar.. u travel a lot.

Laura Hii said...

the prison photo looks a bit disturbing, kind of sad how human can treat another human like that.

13th Panda said...

Vampirem : tidak ada la..ahaha..once in a while, to nearby places only 'x'

Laura Hii : I guarantee you, if you go to the war museum, you will see even more disturbing things ah..Its during war time, when its war, only the strongest win, that's why one human can do that to another human..I HATE WAR.

Chen said...

I went to HCM in December 2007. Ya, we visited the similar places there. I do agree with u some of the photos inside War Museum are very disturbing. I hate Wars... So many innocent life suffers from war :(