I really shouldn’t have gone to the War Remnants Museum. The same thing happened when I saw the holocaust museum in DC. 

I spent most of the rest of the day at my hostel, on the bed reading.

I found a church that was having mass. That made me feel a little better.

Dinner was Indian food again.

Today I wasn’t motivated to do much. The Fine Arts Museum, a rest, and an adventure took all day.

The Fine Arts Museum is in this cool old building. The art itself was okay, mostly revolutionary lacquers and oils like in Hanoi. I’d like to come back in 10 years and see what’s happening with the art scene in Vietnam. The admission was only about 50 cents.

I sent a card at the post office, and walked back past a bakery…uh-oh!

Now deep in a carb coma, a rest and phone recharge looked pretty good.

I had to do at least one more thing today, so I attempted to navigate the bus system. Rides are only a quarter, so if it didn’t work out then oh well.

But it did and I got to see a neat old temple. I also got a great tour of the entire neighborhood…thanks a lot, TripAdvisor map!!!😐

I accidentally also saw another temple and a mosque.

The bus back was a problem. I got on 54 instead of 56. Oops. 90 minutes later, I was in bfe and hungry. Bfe in this case was district 26. I stay in District 1.

My options were:

a taxi in rush hour for 250,000 – one hour

a bus ride for 5000 – 90 minutes

a motorbike ride for 50,000 – 10 minutes.

The aggressive cheapskate in me wanted to find and take a bus, in the dark, with no help. Luckily the sane person in me compromised. 50,000 was still too much, but whatevs. Not the most expensive “adventure” I’ve had, even in the last month.

Anyway, an okay day. I’m going to the war crimes museum tomorrow, wish me luck!

 

And thank goodness. Today was so much more enjoyable, just being outside was a pleasure.

After some delicious sidewalk pho, I found the city’s largest mosque nearly deserted. It wasn’t time for prayers so that was nice. Otherwise I would have had to wait outside.

It was interesting to see how integrated the Muslims of the community were. There’s a large apartment complex on the same block, it has a private gate into the mosque.

Time for coffee and a longish walk to another neighborhood. Found a lovely park where lots of people were taking ballroom dance lessons. I watched for a while.

The Catholic Church I visited was neat. The doors were open and everyone was very friendly. It’s the second largest church in the city and a way more welcoming place than the cathedral. Also it’s not convenient for tourists so it probably doesn’t get bombarded by the masses. Great visit.

On the way to the Taoist temple, more coffee, another temple, and a scooter accident. Im pleased to report that everyone rushed to help if they could. In China, accidents are ignored and you’re pretty much on your own.

My last stop on today’s religious tour was at a very popular temple, the Jade Emporer Pagoda. It’s been renamed to the Luck Sea Temple, I don’t know why.

Anyhoo, it’s pretty run down. The staff seem completely overwhelmed. It must get thousands of visitors every day. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It had a great feeling inside, and reminded me of some temples I’ve seen in Hong Kong. Big, busy, and completely legit.

That was all my plans for the day, so lunch happened and then TripAdvisor told me that a museum was nearby. I went.

The Museum of Vietnamese History was nice. The admission was only 15000 dong. That’s about 65 cents. It had some archaeological stuff, and then a section on the political evolution of the country starting with the overthrowing of Chinese rule. Also a temporary exhibit of imperial clothing. Also a section of Cambodian sculpture. So kinda a mixed bag, but about average for Vietnam. Museums arent curated like westerners would expect.

Then 5:00 pm came and it was time to slowly walk home. 

I walked through the Ben Thanh market, but it was just another permanent market with crap made in China.  I don’t know why so many people go there. The stall owners are so pushy, you can’t just look at anything.

Pho for dinner and back home for the internet and sleep.

Goodnight All 

Well it took just one day in Da Lat for me to lose my acclimatization to the humidity lol.

Got up early for a movie. Finally saw the new Star Wars movie. AWESOME.

I had a plan and it all fell apart as soon as the weather hit 89. So I just walked and rested as needed between stops. Luckily, everything is so close together in District 1, you can just drift around.

Had my first Starbucks in 2 months and man, it was bitter tasting. Is it always like that?

I’ve got a great business idea. Come to Vietnam and go into the concrete business. There is so.much.construction going on. There’s so much work here for engineers and contractors.

Thats pretty much it. Had a nice day looking at stuff. I’m out of clean clothes so tomorrow I’ll have to take it easy until my stuff comes back from the laundry.

Peace out