20231031 AAAA Trip - Halloween in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 45/105 - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

We awoke at sea.  Today is half a sea day with our arrival in Ho Chi Minh City planned for 1 p.m. or so.  With a lazy morning on tap, we took advantage of some space in Travel Consultant, Hâmed's schedule to talk about future travel goals.  We have already booked our first river cruise while on this ship (Bucharest to Amsterdam in 2024) and are looking at Bangkok to Mumbai with pre and post-extensions to pick up Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal later in 2025.  The date we're interested in hasn't been opened for booking so we're watching.

It's Halloween here in Southeast Asia (like everywhere else), and we've seen decorations in nearly all ports.  Viking dressed up the atrium today.

We opted to try Mamsen's for breakfast today.  Located on deck #7 forward near the Explorers' Bar, it is open at limited times and offers a more Norwegian menu.  We both had the waffles.  

Arlona went traditional with fruit and sour cream

I had butter and syrup

We could begin to see signs of life at the south end of the Soài Rạp - the river that will take us north and inland toward Ho Chi Minh City.

Sailing this morning meant Baggo.  Today, I suggested to the Cruise Director, Graham, that we try starboard versus port - essentially even-numbered rooms versus odd-number rooms.  It worked out that the groups were pretty evenly divided so that's what we did.

As usual, everyone had fun.  Today, the even-numbered rooms (port side) prevailed.  Oh - we're in 5096.

We spent time on the balcony and watched the sail-in up the Soài Rạp. Some big jellies floated by.  They had to be a couple of feet across.

A large group of terns followed us for a while.

We believe this is fish farming - and wind power

This reminded Arlona of a dandelion

All of a sudden, the water turned red – we aren’t sure if it was algae or debris carried by the Soài Rạp to the South China Sea - the birds disappeared

This was heading right at us but passed behind us

We think these are boat tie-ups

Google Lens suggests that this is a Chinese Pond Heron – it flew by as we approached the pier

Once again, we are docked at a container port, more than an hour south of the city.  That is a downside of this itinerary – many times you aren’t anywhere near anything interesting and it takes an hour or more shuttle to get anywhere.

The view off the starboard side was stunning

The aft view?  Breathtaking!

Mother Nature decided to greet us with a welcome show.

Our excursion today is the optional Ho Chi Minh City by Night.  We will attend a water puppet show - something we can only see in Vietnam.  We will enjoy a Vietnamese dinner and take in several sights by bus.

Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam's largest city with a population of about 10M. Formerly known as Saigon, the city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City as part of the reunification of Vietnam.  

Traffic in Hi Chi Minh City is very much like traffic in Hanoi where lane markings, traffic control signals and signs, one-way roads, and pedestrian-only sidewalks are just suggestions.  Our guide informed us that the traffic signals are interpreted as green-go, yellow-go faster, and red-go really fast. We witnessed behavior that backs that up.

Our first activity was sightseeing on the bus.  We really couldn’t see much as we just buzzed by landmarks with no chance to get out and take photos.  We only saw what was on our side of the bus, so the sightseeing was pretty much a bust for us.

Scooters are everywhere

City Hall

Saigon Central Market

The Reunification Palace

The former US Embassy, now the US Consulate

With how we bubble wrap our kids in the US, it was amazing to see little kids, as young as infants, on scooters with their parents.  Little ones loved looking in our tour bus windows and when we waved, they would all smile. We saw many scooters with four people – the smallest child in front, dad right behind driving, the older child behind dad, and mom in the back.

How cute is she?

Our first actual stop was for dinner.

Here is our three-course menu.

The utensil rests are cool

Drinking like a local

And the actual courses...

A little garlic bread to open the palate

Course 1 - the beef, pumpkin flower, and soup L-R

Course 2 – pork belly, chicken, and sea bass L-R

Dessert – che, flan, fruit, and truffle L-R

Everything was terrific and we enjoyed the meal.  We boarded the bus to head to the highlight of the excursion, The Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theater for the Water Puppet Show of Vietnam.

Water puppet shows are quintessentially Vietnamese.  The puppets are marionettes of sorts.  They are operated with wires, rods, and strings from behind a semi-translucent screen.  The puppeteers can see out from behind the screen but the audience cannot see the puppeteers.  The puppets themselves appear from under the water or by coming out from a split in the screen.  They are highly articulated and can swing arms, spit water, open mouths on dragons, and so on.  It is incredibly creative and captivating.

Our show was in 16 parts and included dancing dragons, agriculture, catching frogs, Phoenix dancing, boat racing, and more.

Three of the six musicians

The other three

The stage - the puppeteers are behind the green screen

Dragon Dance

On a buffalo with a flute

Agriculture

Rearing ducks

Lion dance

Phoenix Dance

Boat racing

Unicorns play with a ball

Fairy Dance

Dance of four holy animals

The puppeteers

After the performance, we boarded the bus for the 45-minute ride back to the ship.  Even at 9 o’clock in the evening, traffic was nuts and scooters were everywhere.

That’s one big KFC

Craziness!

We have an early morning tomorrow and an all-day excursion.  You’ll have to read about all that tomorrow.  It was a good first day in Ho Chi Minh City.