Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

Good morning, Vietnam! Since our last post we have traversed the South China Sea crossing the equator returning to the northern hemisphere. We will remain north of the equator for the next three weeks or so, until we head south toward South Africa. By the time our Voyage is complete we will have crossed the equator four times. Also, during our time sailing the South China Sea we attended several lectures about the history, culture and industries of Southeast Asia with an emphasis on Vietnam, so we are very excited about the places we will visit and the things we will see over the next four days.

Sailing into Ho Chi Minh city is interesting as it took nearly three hours to sail up the Saigon River to our docking location, which is still about an hour, by shuttle bus, from the city center.

As we approached our dock, we passed our sister ship the Viking Sky which is also sailing virtually the same itinerary as we are, but three days ahead of us. So, passengers of both ships lined the upper decks as the ships saluted each other.

Like most Americans, our view of Vietnam is based largely upon what we remember about the Vietnam War. The war in South Vietnam ended in 1975 when South Vietnam surrendered to the North resulting in reunification under communist control. For the first ten years the central government instituted an ineffective planned economy, was under a trade embargo with the west, fought wars with China and Cambodia all of which crippled the country isolating them from the rest of the world; very much like present day North Korea. With the fall of the Soviet Union, Vietnam lost most of its outside economic support coupled with the death of key hardline leaders, Vietnam transitioned to a socialist-oriented market system similar to China. Since then, Vietnam has been reintegrated into the global economy and politics. Vietnam is still considered an emerging economy but has achieved strong growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction, exports and foreign investments, but significant human rights issues remain.

Today we took a Viking Optional tour, “Ho Chi Minh City by Night”. We boarded our bus for the hour-long drive into the city where we saw the contrast between old and new firsthand.

We began our evening with a panoramic drive around the city seeing the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office and City Square.

Following the city tour we went on to a local restaurant where we were treated to a traditional Vietnamese dinner.

We concluded the evening with a show at the Water Puppet Theater where we saw a performance of a traditional Mua Roi Nuoc water puppet show. The ancient art dates back to the 10th century, when after a harvest, the ponds and rice paddies served as stages for impromptu shows.

Tomorrow we are going to tour the Vietnam War era Cu Chi Tunnels and War Remnants Museum.