Day 7 - Our Last Day Here

Today ended up as a free day so we took the opportunity to sleep in.  Sleeping in for me was getting about an hour more than I have the rest of the week but it was nice to not wake up to an alarm.

We got ready and had a leisurely breakfast and had an opportunity to say farewell to Janice & Quang who are the Awana Missionaries for Vietnam.  They told us that all of the churches that were represented yesterday are interested in starting Awana Clubs.  It was exciting and encouraging news!  There are many logistics to work out and who knows how many clubs will actually start as a result of the meetings yesterday but the response was overwhelmingly positive and they were ecstatic.  They were such wonderful hosts and I loved getting to know them. 

We hopped in a cab and headed to the Reunification Palace.  We saw this lady as we were on our way and I had to snap a picture.  Amidst all of the traffic here, you occasionally see people riding bikes.  I always fear for their safety but they never seem all that concerned.  Just moments before I snapped this picture, she was riding with one hand and texting on her phone with the other.  It just cracks me up to see the traditional with the modern.  

I love the traditional hats.  I so badly wanted to buy one but there is no way to get it home without ruining it and I'm pretty sure I would never wear it at home anyway.  Rick told me to wear it on the plane...


Here is your history lesson for the day.  If you are like me, you have no idea why the Reunification Palace is a landmark.  It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the fall of Saigon when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

This is the helipad on the top of the Palace where civilians were airlifted out before the fall of Saigon.

We were also able to tour the basement where the war rooms, radio rooms, map rooms and such were.

This was the map room

This was called the teletypewriter room

 After the tour, we decided we have seen everything we wanted to see so we headed back to the hotel to relax and pack.  Our flight leaves at 5am tomorrow morning to head home.

I never did get a picture of the stinky fruit that was mostly to blame for how bad the marketplace smells.  It is only one of many smells there including fish and other foods, people, mothballs.  Add in the heat and the durian and you have a smell worse than anything I've ever smelled before. 

One last thing about Vietnam.  I love how inexpensive most things are here.  Entry to the palace was 30,000D which is about $1.40 USD.  For much of the trip, I carried around several million Dong.  It felt nice to be a millionaire for a while!