Another day in Saigon

Reunification Palace

This building was originally for the French governor-general in 1868 and when the French departed Vietnam, it became home for the South Vietnamese President Diem. According to Lonely Planet, he was so unpopular his own air force bombed the palace in 1962 in an attempt to kill him (they succeeded a year later). A new residence was built with a huge bomb shelter in the basement. The new building was named Independence Palace and became a symbol for the South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War.

The complex covers 12 hectares and has expansive lawns with trees and gardens. The building itself is airy and spacious with lots of windows. We joined an English speaking tour group but our guide’s accent made it tough to understand what she was saying. Many things remain the same:  old phones, maps still on the walls, old chairs and desks….

This is the President’s desk and office.

This room is the most ornate room we saw – it is the credentials presenting room. I quite liked the desk.

We also saw the receiving room, banquet hall, games room, theatre, library, and private quarters. On the second floor there was a water fountain and garden area so it felt like you were on the first floor in a courtyard. Upstairs was the bar and large open space for socializing. The helipad was located here as well.

The guide flew through the basement, maybe she’s claustrophobic. We were a few storeys down in the bomb shelter which housed map rooms, bedrooms, offices, kitchen, etc. We finished with a short film in English but I pretty well daydreamed through the entire thing… Ian and I wandered around the grounds and visited the replica tank – same make as the one that broke through the gates in 1975 symbolizing the end to the Vietnam War.

For lunch we ate at Pho 24 – it’s a chain that sells nothing but simple pho. It was super cheap – maybe $2 total - and yummy. After lunch we headed to the Fine Arts Gallery.  The gallery’s second and third floors were closed but the exhibit was spread out over two buildings so there were still plenty of paintings to see.  The building was quite lovely and one could see the influence of the French –

Workers were giving the building a face lift and Ian and I were shocked at the amount of paint splatters on the statues and the marble staircase leading up to the first building. Guess drop cloths are not something they use here.

I was surprised that we were allowed to take photos of the paintings – certainly never been able to do that before. The first floor housed an exhibit by artist Nguyen Van Curong and the very first work we encountered, Ian fell in love with. It is called Kite 6 and is a picture done in lacquer.

Everything in this gallery was for sale – this particular piece was a mere 18 million dong – 800 dollars. If we had room in our bags, we would have bought it, but alas, you can’t roll up a lacquer painting. I really liked this artist’s work; the theme of kites, bulls, and children often were often a feature.

I particularly liked the landscaped paintings done in oil.

Finishing up here, we wandered over to the next building and found these delightful paintings.

As we started to look at them, a Vietnamese fellow approached us and gave us a card. He then introduced himself as the artist. He was on his way out the door so we didn’t get to talk to him but it was great that he stopped to meet us.

This particular painting is called Back to Childhood River and is by artist Ngo Huy.

The building was three floors and we saw a variety of different styles and media, including sculptures, wooden carvings, and masks.

We quite enjoyed our little trip to the art gallery – another great day.