Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - May 2007 (Part I)
Vietnam is still a developing country.  I rank it somewhere between Kuala Lumpur and Manila in terms of the quality of my visit.  Watch out for rigged taxi meters, and learn to cross the street like a local or you're going to get smashed.
A view of the Saigon River.  The statue of Tran Hung Dao, the 13th century general that repelled the Mongols, is in the foreground.
For better or worse, Ho Chi Minh is considered the George Washington of Vietnam.  Well, that's how revisionist historians from the Hanoi-based government are spinning things.  His portrait sits in display at the main post office. 
The Reunification Palace (former Presidential Palace of South Vietnam) is preserved much as it was after the North Vietnamese Army stormed the gates on April 30th, 1975.
These Soviet-made T-54 tanks are of the same make that the NVA used to storm the palace.  I found the child playing near the war machine to be particularly striking.
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws