Above Saigon

Since the building was there and so much a part of the cityscape, it just felt right to go see Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City or HCMC officially) from the air. This is the Bitexco Financial Tower. The heliport juts from the side. It's at the 52nd floor of the 68 story structure.  The observation deck is on the 49th and 50th floors within the circular space. 

262.5 metres, 851 feet, 124th tallest building in the world, completed in 2010.

Here's Geordie at the entrance. He got a Senior's discount. I'm too young.

I'm not geographically astute so I have no idea what direction we are facing. West?

This river flows into the Mekong. Notice there is green space. I have told people that we didn't enjoy Saigon when we were here last. I think that's because of where we stayed. I liked it lots more this time. 

Here's the Mekong.  Lots of empty space across the river. We went for a drink on the roof at the Majestic Hotel which is the building in the lower right corner.

Geordie holds on for dear life. I didn't mention it to him but I occasionally felt the movement of the building. Architects design that way for tall buildings.

Here we go - from inspiration to concept to design. The architect for this building is Carlos Zapata, an Ecuadorian. 

Geordie was excited to see the highway dip below the river into a tunnel. When we left Saigon we drove through it - 1.5 minutes under the water.

The red roofed building is the Stock Exchange. And the tunnel entrance/exit on this side is right above it.

And the red roofed building here on the left is the City Market. We didn't go in. 

We had to come back down to earth. Here is one of the busy motorcycle guards doing his job. Folks leave their motorbikes to be guarded and pay the guard when they return. By the way, Saigon has 9,000,000 inhabitants and 6,000,000 motorbikes. 

There has been a dearth of temples in the last few blog posts. Here's one that's a little more rare. And unlike the busy, chaotic Wats and Chinese temples of SE Asia, this one was locked up. Even the schedule of services was locked away in the entrance area. It's the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Just across the street is the post office, designed and built by Gustave Eiffel. Yes, that Eiffel.

The building interior. Note the portrait of Ho Chi Minh in place of prominence. I think you can still mail packages and letters here, but it's more a tourist attraction, with stamp shops in the centre.

Inside are two maps painted on the walls. This one shows the telegraph lines of Southern Vietnam and Laos. 

And this one shows central Saigon. Both are dated 1892.

After our walking tour we headed back to our hotel. This woman is selling basketrys from her bicycle. She wheels it through the streets since she can't actually find the seat.

I leave you with this photo of two young lovers in the park. Face masks are de riguer for many SE Asians. The motorbikers wear very heavy cloth ones which are sold on street corners.