Inside The Reunification Palace.

The five-storey 95 room palace and all its contents remain intact as it was found that day – to their credit!! And it is now a memorial to a past way of life.

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I’m off again for work, this time to Mt Hagen up in the Highlands of PNG, for a week. I used to travel through here when we lived in Tabubil in the late 1990s, so am looking forward to going back.

I will leave you with these interiors of the palace while I am gone and post again next weekend.

The Reunification Palace

Of all the places I saw in Vietnam this is the one that held the most vivid memories for me. I have seen this building so often over the years and it was so important that I visited it on our trip.

This is the former Presidential Palace of South Vietnam today known as Dinh Thong Nhat (The Reunification Palace). On 30 April 1975 communist tanks crashed through the palace’s wrought iron gates and overthrew the South Vietnamese Government.

In the park-like grounds is a tank similar to the one that crashed through the gates. The original one is now in Hanoi.

Saigon Lights

The square on the intersection of Le Loi and Nguyen Streets is the hub of Saigon. Included in this square are:

The famous Rex Hotel, home to American servicemen during the Vietnam War.

The stunning City Hall - People's Community Building,

....and diagonally across from that is Vietnam Airlines.

Notre Dame - Saigon style

Notre Dame (Duc Ba) Cathedral with its 56 m bell towers that hold six bells weighing nearly 30 tons, rises over Paris Square in downtown Saigon. It stands across from The Post office (last post). French architect Jules Bourand designed the cathedral and it was completed in 1890 .

You can still see bullet holes in the facade, and in 2005 people flocked to the square with rumours the Virgin Mary was shedding tears.

This young couple had their photos taken outside the church.

Saigon Post Office

On Paris Square across from the Notre Dame Cathedral (next post) in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), stands the impressive Post Office. Designed by Gustav Eiffel’s firm, the building was built between 1886 and 1891 and looks more like a railway station, with its stunning vaulted ceilings and skylights.

The grand central pavilion is flanked by two wings where tourists can buy souvenirs and friendly staff play with the toys and musical items.

In the pavilion, huge maps decorate the side walls and....

…..an imposing portrait of Ho Chi Minh stares down on tourists and locals alike from the back wall.

Vertigo

Scaffolding in Vietnam is quite an art form....

but not for the fainthearted.

Ede People

The Ede people, a minority group living in the Southern Highlands near Dalat, lead a very meager existence.

The government tried to rehouse these people in a nearby town, providing them with new accommodation with running water and sewage but nearly all of the houses remain empty, as these proud people prefer to live their traditional life herding animals and living off the land.

The people and the scenery look very South American; I kept having to remind myself I was in Vietnam.

More of Hoi An

Hoi An is a trading port renowned for its timeworn merchant’s homes, grid of river front streets and Chinese assembly halls. It is purported to be the best preserved port of a bygone era in Southeast Asia prompting UNESCO in 1999 to inscribe the site on its World Heritage List.

You can see the Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese and French influences in the buildings.

I fly out to Brisbane tomorrow for a couple of weeks so this blog will return on February 7. Thanks for all your support - see you then!!

Tuc Do's Tomb III

Last look around Tuc Do's Tomb Complex in Hue, Central Vietnam.

Tuc Do sired no children despite having 103 concubines. He did not die of exhaustion as you would expect, but of small pox.

Tuc Do's Tomb II

More photos from around Tuc Do's Tomb outside Hue. See 27 December post on this page for earlier photos.

Night Lights for the New Year

Night lights from Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) to help celebrate the New Year.

Hope you have a good one.

Hue's Ancient Citadel

The overnight train from Hanoi arrives in Hue, the ancient city of the Nguyen Kings, early in the morning. Hue, on the banks of the Song Huong (Perfume River), is situated midway between Hanoi in the north and Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) in the south.The city is not only historical rich, but charming and cultured.
On the river's north bank is the ancient Citadel, inside which are found the stunning and resplendent Forbidden Purple City, Yellow Enclosure and the fabled Imperial City, which follows the same layout as Beijing’s Forbidden City. The Citadel is a 4 sq km fortification of 6.5 m walls, ramparts and bastions.

One of the ten gates through the wall is the 57 m wide Ngo Mon (Noon Gate) which was once reserved for the private use of the Emperor.

The second typhoon in as many weeks descended upon Hue the afternoon we arrived and the visit to this amazing place was eventually abandoned due poor light and wet everything. The next morning it was no better so this is all we managed to see.