Monday, May 25, 2015

Vietnam: Saigon, Ho Chi Minh's City of the Unexpected

Chauffeur in a Rolls-Royce
The entry-level front desk at The Reverie


 

On the way to Notre Dame de Saigon. "I'm drunk and you're still ugly."


Neon Virgin and candles

Today's "Ride of the Valyries" is on motorbikes, the Huey helicopter is a museum piece

View from The Reverie hotel
A "Saigon 40" cocktail






Reflected sunrise






On the way into Cholon

Motobike masks for sale 






There are so many smiles....




Birds' nests for soup


The masks come off!

A hole in the wall coffee bar once frequented by American pilots


She makes the coffee - and she enjoys it.

The flavor of Vietnamese coffee is quite extraordinary, with strong notes of chocolate.

A Novotel rises beside the old U.S. embassy building evacuated by helicopter in 1975


Searching for the scene of an old crime ...

This is where it took place.

There's a helmet law for grown-ups but not, it would appear, for children.


Tourists at the statue of Ho Chi Minh in front of the old city hall

The Caravelle Hotel. The lower, older section was home to many journalists in the 1960s and '70s

The Continental Hotel. Two floors up on the corner is room 214, where Graham Greene stayed.


Taking notes on The Quiet American while eating a bowl of soup at The Continental Hotel



The Old Post Office

The Beirut Cafe





Study in Red and Blue with Tank and Motorbikes


Goodbye, Saigon.