Photos from my visit to Ho Chi Minh City
I recently visited Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for a speech for Abacus International. Unfortunately, I was in Vietnam for only twenty hours, and I only had about four hours free to see the city.
The view on approach to the airport.
Apparently, Vietnamese people really like to greet arriving passengers. I’ve never seen more people waiting outside immigration.
Leaving the airport. The scooter population is similar to Mumbai except almost everyone wears a helmet in Ho Chi Minh City.
Everybody needs a good positioning statement.
I’ve also never seen thicker infrastructure.
A very enchanting snack awaited me in my room.
This is the Reunification Palace. It was the presidential palace until South Vietnam surrendered in 1975.
The North Vietnamese tanks drove down this avenue and through the front gates on April 30, 1975.
One of the tanks that drove through the gates.
This is the room where the surrender took place.
There’s a movie theatre on the top floor.
One of the bedrooms in the palace.
This is the roof of the palace. The red circle shows where Nguyen Thanh Trung, a spy for North Vietnam in the South Vietnamese air force, dropped a bomb on the palace from his F5E. He dropped another one a few feet from this one. After the war, he became Deputy Director General of Vietnam Airlines and a flight instructor for Boeing 777s.
This is down in the basement.
This is the radio room where “Good morning Vietnam” broadcasts were made.
The president’s bedroom in the basement.
The “war room” in the basement.
The president’s Mercedes limo.
Next stop: War Remnant’s Museum.
Tribute to the photographers and journalists who died covering the war.
Chinook helicopter.
Recreation of the Côn Đảo jail that the South Vietnamese used to house political prisoners.
The “tiger cages” from the jail.
A guillotine used to execute prisoners.
Inside the post office.
Helmets are an art form in Vietnam. I bought two for my kids.
This is the U. S. Consulate. The building in the pictures of the helicopter taking people out of Vietnam after the surrender was razed, and this new building put in its place.
The cool pool at the Asiana Intercontinental.
Interesting name for an airline.
