The day started with a trip to An Dong Market. This was a 5-story indoor market selling all manner of clothing, shoes, and souvenirs. It is complete sensory overload as merchandise is piled on top of itself in tiny stalls (maybe 5 ft by 5 ft). The aisles are barely wide enough for a person to walk and that's before we add the vendors sitting on stools eating breakfast. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures there.
After some hard bargaining, we had lunch at the café next door. This was connected to the An Dong Plaza, which was somewhere between the market and a more traditional mall. After lunch, we explored the An Dong Plaza some more - though at this point everything for sale looked the same.
Next, we took a trip to the Reunification palace. This was the home of South Vietnamese government from the mid-1960s until the end of the war in 1975. The building is a great example of 1960s architecture, though, I'm not sure why air conditioning wasn't included. Its also been left as it was at the end of the war; including the maps and communication equipment in the basement bunker.
One of the two tanks that actually broke through the palace gates, effectively ending the war.
The central fountain.
The main reception room. This is still used occasionally for state events.
The presidential bedroom in the living quarters.
The theater room. The red upholstered chairs are very 1970s.
The bar in the game room in the shape of a half barrel.
Situation map from the president's bunker
Posing with a jeep that belonged to the military commander.
The entire tour took us up and down about 10 flights of stairs, so we had a well-deserved ice cream break in an outdoor café on the grounds of the palace.
After our snack, we walked to the Saigon center mall, which was much more upscale than our earlier shopping.
A sad ending for the south. Leslie
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