For a few years now United has flown to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam. I never had the opportunity to fly this trip, and truly that was fine by me–it is six days of work on the opposite side of the clock in heat and humidity and thunderstorms with low pay for high hours away from home (I got a mortgage and kids) and no thanks!–but this month the trip appeared in my schedule all on its own (a consequence of being relatively junior on the seniority list, sometimes your schedule surprises you!). Working over Labor Day weekend notwithstanding, I was actually excited to see another place I’d never been.
On the first day, we flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong, arriving in the evening. This is one of my favorite hotels for a layover. It’s on Hong Kong island with fantastic views of the harbor. If you are lucky enough to get a high floor (this time I was on the 31st) it’s like being up in an airplane. I always sleep with the blinds open because the city looks like gemstones, sparkling against a sky and water that takes on all the colors of the sunset and sunrise.
I can sit at the window and watch the harbor for hours. In this photo, I loved the contrast of this junk sailing by the cargo ship sailing by the cruise ship:
The next afternoon we flew to Saigon. (The real name is Ho Chi Minh City, but the airport identifier is “SGN” so we all call it Saigon. I later learned the locals call the central downtown area Saigon and the outlying sprawl Ho Chi Minh.) It’s a quick flight, only about 2.5 hours, but it’s in the middle of the night body-clock time and that makes it harder, especially since there are no relief pilots on such a short leg to do all the other duties, so my workload as a first officer is effectively doubled. I did not nap well, so felt even more tired. But oh, well! (I’m not whining; I’m just sayin’) Anyway, I knew we’d be down there in no time with thoughts of a cold beer as a reward after we arrived. The captain had flown to Saigon many times. You take off out of Hong Kong, fly over the China Sea, then you are there. United dispatch warned us that they saw thunderstorms all up and down the coast and solidly all over the south of Vietnam. None of it panned out, though. The airport was mostly clear and the skies amazingly empty. The captain likened it to coming in to Des Moines in the middle of the night–you are the only one on approach–and I agree! Except that jungle below us looked pretty dark, and I don’t remember corn fields looking quite that desolate.
The terminal was brand new–I mean like Opening-Day new. It was its second day in operation. Apparently the contrast between this terminal and the old one is marked, according to the crew I flew with who had been there many times. As I would soon learn, it is the dawn of a new era for Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh City. What it looks like today will not be the way it looks in ten years.
I managed to sleep about 5 or 6 hours, not so easy on the opposite side of the clock, but I feel rested. The room feels humid. The next morning, this is the view from my hotel. Times Square Flat Iron building, Saigon style!
I ate a traditional local breakfast (as I try to do in all the places I visit). A Vietnamese breakfast consists of Pho (pronounced “fuh”) which is rice noodles in a delicious meat-based broth with chicken (or beef) into which you add basil leaves, raw bean spouts, chilis, and these other leaves I had no idea what but they tasted good. Vietnamese coffee is a city favorite; people were drinking it hot and cold all day in cafes all over the city. It’s thick, caught-in-your-teeth thick, and you pour syrupy condensed milk in it that makes it creamy and very sweet. Woke me right up!
I hit the ATM in the lobby for some dong, the local currency. It is about 16,800 dong per dollar. I took out a…million. So for a mere 60 USD, I was a millionaire for a day!!! Though it did feel awkward offering others dong, “do you want to see my dong? My dong is bigger than your dong”) Then it was time for sight-seeing. First, the old presidential palace which is now a museum.
For some reason, there were soooo many chairs, all beautiful and Chinese style, in every color, all over the buildings.
The museum was pretty much a boring bust…except the basement, which was used as a bomb shelter. It’s like a time warp, with rooms filled with 1960s and 70s vintage electronics.
Apparently these tunnels, closed to visitors, lead to the Saigon River and other places under the city, at one time, an escape route for the president:
One of the more unusual collections I’ve seen. I’ve heard of glass frogs and ceramic roosters…but (real) elephants’ feet?
On the roof, a replica of the helicopter the president would have used for escape. Note the red targets. I’ll talk about those next:
OK, the targets. In 1975, in the fall of Saigon (or when Saigon was liberated, depending on your perspective, of course)double agent/pilot Nguyen took a USAF-made jet and dropped a bomb through the roof of the presidential palace. He was an instant hero. Where the bomb fell is commemorated here…and there, by red targets. Nguyen is now a high-level airline exec for Vietnam Airlines, I hear:
Then it was back outside and into the traffic, which endlessly fascinated me. I’ve been to A LOT of cities, but never have I seen so MANY vehicles filling the streets, even in Manila with its Mad-Maxian jitneys. I crossed a street only once during my stay, and hope I live to never have to do that again. “Don’t make eye contact with the drivers and don’t stop” was the advice given to me by a local to use when crossing:
The whole family can ride on one scooter:
You weren’t safe off the streets, either. The scooters zipped across sidewalks, too, just like in Taipei and other cities, but here they even zoomed into stores, which of course makes parking oh-so convenient. 
Throughout the city, there would be random spoils of war displayed. For instance, this USAF F-5 in front of an administrative building.
I arrive at the Remnants of War Museum, formerly known as the American War Crimes Museum. There were three main buildings. One is just for photos, pretty horrific many of them, including a bunch of pics of people being tortured and the offspring of Agent Orange victims, horrible deformed, as well as US planes and soldiers getting blown to bits.
Internment as art. Despressing as the concept is, I found the cement, glass shards and barbed wire interesting on an artistic level:
These are the “Tiger Cages” where many were imprisoned and tortured, complete with photos and actual gear used. Like the Topography of Terror museum in Berlin, I found this museum disturbing and depressing–not for seeing what the USA did, but knowing all sides do horrific things to other humans in all wars; it doesn’t matter whose side you’re on.
More spoils on display:
Adding to the despressing atmosphere was the third world with a capital “T” surroundings. After a while it was all too claustrophobic and I bailed out.
Back outside into the traffic again!
There were many examples of French/colonial architecture throughout the city:
This is the Notre Dame Cathedral, contructed entirely of stone brought from France in the early 19th century:
When I was there, a couple was taking their wedding pics outside. They hadn’t gotten married there. It’s just a tradition to take wedding photos at various famous locations around town. They do this sort of thing in St. Petersburg, too, I remember.
The post office. Famous for being leftover from French Days:
My impressions of the city after that one long day of sight-seeing? It’s far behind other Asian cities in modernizing, woefully far behind, very “third world”, but seems poised on the threshhold of becoming a real player in the economics of the region. In ten years, I can see it looking VERY different, skyscrapers in a business district, etc. I can recall being in Beijing back in 1989, and it looked a lot like Saigon in many ways. Now you can hardly recognize the city. Case in point, the new airport terminal. I did love mingling with the people. My guide told me that something near 80 percent of the population is under 30. Everyone acted extremely friendly, and if you showed any interest at all in the culture and food, they were so happy to explain and help.
I possess a low maintenance body. Most of the time I don’t worry about what I eat. Something must have gotten to me, though, because the next morning when it was time to leave for the airport to fly back to Hong Kong (3:30 am wake-up call!) I had myself a good case of “diya-leer” as the lady making the announcements in the Tokyo airport calls it. A sick pilot takes some coordination–not to mention self-discipline–when you are the one flying the plane. I used the lav just before take-off, and, sweating, waited for 18,000 feet so I could tear off my seat harnesses and get back to the lav! New anti-terror procedures require a barrier to be pulled across the small hallway between the lavs and the cabin on the upper deck, which is where the 747 cockpit is located. It’s new and none of the flight attendants are real comfortable with erecting the barrier just yet. Picture me hopping and sweating until that barrier was up. Not pretty! When I got back to Hong Kong, I was so happy for the modern, air-conditioned hotel room and slept
the rest of the day. 
The next morning it was time to fly home and I was as good as new.
