Communism in the tropics. South Vietnam

? This is a guest post from Yuri Likrant.

Trip route:

Ho Chi Minh City

This is a tourist street in the morning. In the evening there are tables on the sides and tourists are fed.

Such an ordinary intersection. Moto equipment here is almost like walking on foot – everyone has it and everyone uses it. Cars are mainly taxis and transportation, although the Vietnamese can carry a lot of things on a bike.

Chinese New Year was celebrated the entire week prior to arrival. And, accordingly, a lot of symbols were on all the streets for another week.

Well, what about without the motivators and faces of the leader?)

“Museum of War Victims” or simply “War Museum”. Formerly “Home for Displaying the War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam.” Actually a lot of equipment, ammunition and photographs. I didn’t take photos of the violence and the victims, google it yourself.

Since there are few attractions in Saigon, everyone is brought here.

Mostly American technology.

Great helmsman. Looks like me when I show routes 🙂

But in the meantime, Americans are not hated in Vietnam, especially in the south, where capitalism is still remembered.

Some statistics.

This is a school. notice the parking lot behind the fence. Those who don’t have a bike are a sucker, cycling is not quoted.

Pioneers. Everything is like in childhood 🙂

The main post office made me happy. Everything is pretty, in the middle there is a large rack with souvenirs. In particular, they sell coins. Bought a collection of modern local and slightly older Indonesian ones, and went for the rest.

In Ho Chi Minh City, and in all of Vietnam, there are very few worthy (no?) Monuments of history and culture, so one day was enough, just took a walk.

Palace of Independence. It was originally intended as a presidential apartment and place of work. But it was solemnly captured in 1975 and since then it has been like a museum.

Negotiation.

There are a lot of reception rooms with a rough 70s decor. I have not been to the Soviet official reception rooms, but I think it was somehow the same.

Library. Monumental.

Like a game room, everything is so naive, without a casino and professional students)

An extensive bunker is located under the building.

Workplace of programmers in the pre-information era)

Ho Chi Minh City sends greetings to the conquered city)

This word can be found in many places. Translated means “commander”.

The Saigon river itself. Picturesque trash resembles flowers. But it didn’t smell much. The piers are clearly not used for a long time and all are closed.

Decay and hopelessness …

In fact, there are a lot of beautiful and well-groomed plants around.

Many grow in flowerpots, sometimes even aquatic / marsh plants are found in special pots with water.

Nha Trang

Photo from my rented apartment. The constant noise of the surf and construction sites, fortunately, neither one nor the other is loud. The 34th floor of the 46-storey building is the tallest in the city.

The main part of the city, mostly locals live there further, and closer to the sea – hotels, hotels and rented housing. On the left (not visible) the local airport, but almost / not at all functioning.

Rocking chair NT Fitness. 30 bucks a month. There are almost no people at 8-10 am. There are few simulators, but the basic set is available, and there is an abundance of dumbbells, although their handles are thick and hard to pull. A few visitors usually make some kind of holi shield, although there are also relatively advanced ones.

Market next to the rocking chair. Mostly fruits (a dollar / kg for almost any), seafood is expensive, chicken breasts – 3 bucks / kg, I was not interested in the rest.

Gena, is that you?

Night city. Active movement is somewhere until 23, and then fades. Almost no one drives until dawn, but with dawn. at 6 am, a full life begins (and not like ours at 8).

For $ 10 (pay at the entrance) you can eat at one of the many grill restaurants in the tourist area of ​​Nha Trang. Drinks are not included in the price and are not cheap enough.

The menu includes both banal fish meat and more exotic ones: frog legs, snakes, crocodile meat and ostrich meat. And also numerous shells, which are not expensive in the bazaar, but it is not clear how to cook them and generally lazy. The frog tastes very much like chicken. Crocodile – for a dense fish (tasty). Ostrich for beef, but I have not tried the snake – they say tough.

A brazier will be brought to the table (or mounted on the table), a girl will come running and help you cook if she sees that you are not doing it.

Two Chinese ate almost as much as we did in 5th, while looking very skinny. At the same time, at the end we were in a state of “overeating”. Oooo, envy!

Local outdoor rocking chair. These things stand every 2 km along the coast. In the morning and in the evening, the locals are actively involved in sports on them.

The last days of a stormy sea. It was creepy, but it was fun!

The waves are uneven. After the largest, by 2 meters, there is a series of smaller sizes, then again a large one. It is aggravated by the fact that the wave itself is large, so also the water leaves from under the wave, as a result, now you are standing ankle-deep, and after a couple of seconds you are covered with your head.

At some point, vests were even left on the shore for those who wanted extreme. A local rescuer always wandered on the shore: 150 cm in height and somewhere in 50 kg. How and whom he could save when half of the Russian husbands were over 100 kg is not clear.

My house is in the background. And Russian seals, who come and lie on the shore all day, as if they lack a sofa at home.

The first meeting of dawn on roller skates in 2016 🙂

Local wellers. The second time I see their pack, they are already waving and greeting as if they were family.

Vietnamese schoolchildren do a morning warm-up to the dance of little ducklings. I shed a lot of tears, although I didn’t understand anything except “quack-quack” 🙂

Catholic Cathedral in Nha Trang.

Whiteboard writing (advanced churches have big TVs with subtitles) and fans.

Traditional desserts: boiled / grated beans with sugar. Sweet, thick, with a characteristic legume flavor.

View of the city from the Cham Towers.

The Cham Towers themselves.

Inside there are various objects of prayer. In two – statues and in two more – these are the phallic symbols.

And this is a local Buddhist complex.

Many-armed Shiva.

And the dormant Buddha.

Swastika heels 🙂

Silk Museum, I really liked this picture!

They say it’s expensive.

Viets arrange dinners right on the beach. And they leave behind mountains of garbage …

Beach in the north of the city. This is a bay and even in rough weather the waves are small here.

I like this view: the sea, boats …

A small piece of the street, extremely pleasantly organized.

Courtyards.

Brought me on one of the dawn pokatushek in a neighboring fishing village. Poor and with a characteristic smell.

Elite village in the south of the city. Villas, gardeners, emptiness and silence. Fenced, guarded.

And directly from the mansions are the poor fishing districts of the city.

They are not connected by a direct road, although the distance is essentially 50 meters, but they had to go around more than a kilometer with a stalker. By the way, I noted that traditional hats are mostly worn by women.

I don’t know why, but everyone is very happy when I take pictures of them. Thank you talking and posing. And I am a shy person, I don’t use it 🙁

Soldiers early in the morning. I met them often. They stomp somewhere, perhaps morning marches.

Over the past month, I have often traveled to meet the dawn north of the city in the morning. Nice road with ups and downs, beautiful views of the sea and sunrise.

There are usually always clouds on the horizon and the impression is that there is some strange land in the distance.

Magic 🙂

Dalat

Electric sleigh. A cool thing, such as not very fast slides, when the rails are laid from top to bottom of the hill and the sled is traveling under its own weight, and the passenger can only slow down.

And this we are already being pulled up with a sleigh. Nothing interesting, there are no species, the speed is very low …

Crazy House in Dalat. Built in an odd style, it features narrow paths above the ground that entwine the entire complex.

This is a hotel and you can even rent a room in it, but it seems that during the day it should be open for viewing.

Parents room. Such a conditional (and often not conditional) place in the houses of many vietas, where no one lives, but there are photographs of parents, various memorabilia, an altar and incense. Usually, it is the parents of the current generation that are remembered here.

Linh Phuoc Temple, new, pretty pretty, I can’t add anything else.