SEA2019: Second day in Ho Chi Min City (a.k.a. Saigon)

This evening we catch a train to Da Nang, but in the meanwhile there's stiill a lot to see in HCMC and a lot to learn about Vietman.

Our main visit today was going to be the Vietnam History Museum. It covers all history of the country from prehistory's early settlers to the present day. It opens everyday, from 8h to 17h or 18h. Accordding to the guidebook.

Long walk, passing by different neighbourhoods, from glass and steel skyscrapoers to two-floor  housing organised like a small houtong, and what looks like very exclusive private school.

The Museum is at the entrance of the Botanic and Zoological Park. May be a visit for later on on itself. Oposite to this entrance there's the Temple of King Huong Vuong. We find the entrance from the park closed, so we go around to another entrance by the main street. May be a bad omen is that the Museum's cafe is closed. At the main entrance the guard told us the museum was closed till 13h (even though the sight at the ticket office clearly stated it was open from 8h to 17h).

Fine Art Museum (sorry the finger in the picture)

A bit disappointed we head to what was to be the complement to the History Museum, a small militry museum dedicated to Ho Chi Min's campaign to liberate South Vietnam, which is just around the corner from the History Museum. But alas, it's also closed, till 13h30. It seems that "Open from xxh to yyh" assumes you already know there's a lunch break included. Waiting  almost two hours for the museums to open seems a bit long, so we 'regroup' at a nearby coffee shop with some iced latte and chocolate and head back to the center.

On the way back to the hotel, we detour a bit to visit Phung Sun Tu Pagoda and Dan Sinhj Market as well as the Fine Arts Museum (to be visited later as well, but at least to admire it's Art Deco entrance).

Some tourism done, we pick our luggage from the hotel and head to Ga Sai Gon, the main train station, for our trip to Da Nang. Exploring a bit around the station we find an excellent cafe, Nguyen Huong Cafe, to spend some of the waiting time with good air conditioning and wifi. And shortly after that, we board the night train to Da Nang.