A walking we will go

The beautiful rays of the early morning sun shines brightly in Ho Chi Minh City, as an elderly woman gently rubs her face with her aged hands, sitting quietly on the hardened bench, giving thanks for another glorious day. A couple of lovebirds canoodling beneath the various stylised street lamps, oblivious to passer-by. A jogger with cool dark shades, running past a mother and child breaking their fast, for the umpteen time around the park.

Well, that would have been most likely what I would have observed had I woken up before the rise of the sun, and made an early trip down to the park. Alas, I was snuggled in bed, all comfy and what not, and dragged myself out of bed to go for breakfast at 7:00am. I did begin my morning trip around District 1 at 7:45am with another colleague.

We decided earlier on to walk the city and began with the nearby park (No.1 on the map), to take in the sight and sounds, and even the many smells of the place, amidst the usual honking of the many motorbikes wheezing pass us especially when we were crossing the hazardous roads. This walking trip is hard to summarise in just so many words, so instead, will let the pictures (catch it in the next post!) do the talking and will just highlight some points along the journey. We followed the route as shown by the red lines on the map.

1. The first pit stop at a nearby park.
2. A unique church incorporating features of four to five religions as I was told. Saw symbols of crosses, even a grotto for the holy mother, statues of angels, yet, a pot containing joss sticks near the entrance of the gate to the church compound. Strange indeed.
3. A walk through the larger Tao Dan Park. Saw many students dressed as scouts passing time doing activities or games. Quite a few elderly folks also, doing a bit of exercise, with many spending time just reading and even catching a cup of coffee or two with friends.
4. A quick glimpse of the Reunification Hall, formerly South Vietnam's Presidential Palace. Didn't manage to go in though, as time did not permit.
5. The famous Notre Dame Cathedral in HCM. Looked quite "modern" from the exterior, but the interior showed further upkeep was needed. Some very nice stained glasses, whilst others needed some repairs. Personally, I found the Cathedral in Hanoi more peaceful and better maintained.
6. The central post office, made famous by its French architectural designs. Elaborate pieces of work could be seen adorning the outer walls, with details permeating even to the floor design.
7. City Opera House, with statues of two bare breasted women fronting the main entrance. Would have liked to go in for a peek, but there was a graduation ceremony being held there, and it was quite packed inside.
8. People's Committee Hall. A grand building indeed.
9. Back to Ben Thanh market by 10.45am for some more shopping! My colleague and I went our separate ways from here to haggle for more things individually.
10. And finally, back to the hotel to freshen up before checking out at 12:30pm.

In short, we saw historical sites, high end shopping streets where designers like D&G have their outlets, a large Parkson shopping centre, the more traditional narrow buildings of Vietnam, many large and small shops catering to tourist and locals alike, the people from many different classes, as well as the different parks with numerous human activities on the beautiful Sunday morning. It is hard to capture the essence of what was observed, but definitely worth the walking trip, even though my legs ache like mad after the long walk. Good exercise though. :)