Vietnam Vacation-Saigon

We spent out last few days in Vietnam in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Saigon is a newer, larger city than Hanoi, and therefore quite a bit more modern. The streets are wider which basically translates to more motorbikes!

As you can see from the picture, the traffic lights don't mean a whole lot to the motorists. It's supposed to be a red light for those going straight, but that doesn't seem to be deterring people from plowing into the intersection!
We explored the Ben Hahn market the first evening we were there. Though most of the goods sold at the evening market are clothing items, we did find a few stands selling fruit and vegetables.

We stopped at a little ice cream shop on the way back to the hotel. Tyler's banana split looked particularly yummy. We couldn't figure out what two of the ice cream flavors were though--and one of them didn't taste very good. At least it looked pretty!
The last afternoon we were there we toured the city visiting various points of interest. This is a picture of the post office--built back when the French were occupying Vietnam.
The architecture of the building was quite neat. It actually reminded us of an old train station ticketing hall. Like so many public buildings, Ho Chi Minh's picture is up on the back wall!
We also visited the Reunification Palace. This is where the president of South Vietnam lived and worked during the war.
It was built in the 60's and this was evident! This was the room where the treaty between the north and south was signed with the Vietcong came rolling into Saigon. It was an interesting place to see, especially since our guide gave us a lot of random information about it and stories related to it.

We did go to the War Remnants Museum also. It was a bit challenging to walk through the exhibitions as an American. I suppose there are always two sides to every story though, right? It reminded us of all of the terrible and grusome parts of war and made our hearts heavy for those who had to experience it first hand. It made us long for peace on a global scale. The last day we were in Vietnam was in fact my birthday. I never imagined I'd turn 28 in Saigon! We went to a little restaurant for dinner. They had paper covers on the table along with crayons. Tyler drew out some birthday wishes for me--cake, candles and all! The waiter caught on and brought us a brownie treat after dinner--yum!