Story And Photos By Boxing Bob Newman
Monday at the IBF convention in Ho Tram, Vietnam, featured the highly anticipated tour of Ho Chi Minh City — a full-day endeavor that left delegates exhausted, drenched in perspiration from the heat and humidity, then re-cooled by the very ample bus and coach air conditioning, educated, enlightened, lighter in the wallet from several market stops, and overall thrilled that they embarked on the 13-hour excursion.
Depending on traffic, the trip from the host hotel — The Grand Ho Tram Resort — to Ho Chi Minh City takes anywhere from two to three hours. Ours was roughly two-and-a-half hours, departing at 7 a.m. Three full coaches carried more than 100 sightseers on the journey, each heading to different parts of the same tour so as not to overwhelm the shops and lunch restaurant simultaneously.
Our bus visited the Independence Palace first — the original White House of former South Vietnam. Readers may note that Ho Chi Minh City and Saigon are actually interchangeable names. In fact, longtime locals still refer to the city by its name of more than 300 years: Saigon. The original building was constructed by the French imperialists between 1868 and 1873 and was then known as Norodom Palace. It was renamed Independence Palace in 1954 when it was handed over to the South Vietnamese prime minister. It was rebuilt in 1962 after an aerial bombing left it severely damaged. After the fall of Saigon, which ended the Vietnam War, it was renamed Reunification Convention Hall.
Next up was the French Post Office in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Built in 1891, it now serves not only as a post office, but also as a centerpiece for souvenir shopping. It also lies just yards from the former U.S. CIA building where the last American helicopter whisked away several Vietnamese refugees — who had been U.S. assets during the war — from the building’s rooftop.
Next up was Dong Duong Restaurant, where the delegation enjoyed a multi-course lunch, starting with traditional chicken pho (soup), pork and shrimp fresh spring rolls, Vietnamese crispy pancakes with pork, stir-fried morning glory with garlic, salted fish fried rice, and finishing with longan and lotus seed sweet soup.
Next came the very emotional visit to the War Remnants Museum. Here, visitors witnessed not only examples of jettisoned U.S. weaponry — such as tanks, planes, and every manner of hand-held firearm — but also extremely graphic photos and articles depicting Vietnamese civilian casualties. There was discarded shrapnel, undetonated (and now defused) explosive rounds, and much more. There were even references to anti-war sentiment in the United States, including graphic scenes from the Kent State killings in Ohio.
Then it was on to more shopping at a market housing both government-run shops and private vendors, the latter allowing aggressive bargaining with sellers.
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