We made it back from Mekong Delta in the early afternoon. I decided for a walk up to the Jade Emperor Pagoda (around 3.5km one way), which turned out to be a nice and quiet temple, far enough away from the tourist part of town to preserve its tranquility.

I made it back to the hotel just in time to meet up for a cyclo ride to and around the Chinese quarter. A cyclo ride here translates to being lazy and being pedaled around. We were first on the cyclos for some time (simply to make it to the Chinese quarter), before we had a first stop at the flower market. From here – after a good look around – we continued further, our next stop being at the Buddhist Quan Am Pagoda, giving us the opportunity to explore this colorful temple and the little pond on the other side of the street. We did continue to Binh Tay Market, a vast market – mainly wholesale – catering for almost everything (a bit like ebay … if they don’t have it, it does not exist). After half an hour of checking out the market, we made it back to the bikes for our ride back to the hotel.

This year did see me heading for Vietnam over Christmas and New Year. My trip did start in mid December in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon and to then end in Hanoi in very early January.

I arrived in Saigon midday, left my stuff in the hotel and started to explore my surroundings. I ended up following the walking tour lined out in my guidebook. This led me past the main sites in central Saigon. The biggest attraction (at least for me) surely being the Reunification Palace. I got myself a ticket and did head inside. The interior of the palace clearly reflects the 1960s / 70s – and probably not much has changed since those days – when back in April 1975 a tank did crash through its get, marking the end of the Vietnam war.

My actual tour did start in the evening. As it turned out, there were only five of us – so a fairly small group. On Monday morning the included program started with a city tour (most of which, I had already covered on Sunday) and a visit to the War Remnants Museum, exhibiting items related to the Vietnam war (or American war as they say here).