reunification palace ho chi minh

under a hot sunny day crossing from one street to another with a map as our only guide. we tried asking the people around but majority would not even know where the Reunification Palace. first because they cannot understand us and second the people would still call it Independence Palace, like one who still prefers to call it Saigon over Ho Chi Minh.like the city where it stands, its name evolved from years of conflict. the first structure in this area was called Norodom Palace and was changed to Governor's palace destroyed reconstructed until it was finally named as the Reunification Palace. just after the communist in North Vietnam and South Vietnam ended a negotiation in 1975.
similar to Philippines' Malacanang Palace, it remains as one of Vietnam's most important structure. with some of its halls and rooms, elegant. there are guided tours around the building but most of the time using the country's local language.
we just went around the palace from the main hall to the ground floor which contains old collections of photos of its history. leaders who held post in this structure including the Japanese who occupied it during the world war.
as of this posting, the Reunification Palace is already a historical structure as the head of state is already based in the country's capital city, Hanoi. within its grounds, a tank that symbolized the end of Vietnam war, is among the tourists favorite spot. the tank crashing the palace gates gave way to the Vietnam that we see today.
it is open to the public with an entrance fee of 15,000 Vietnam Dong. if you're not much into Vietnam's history, you won't appreciate the site much but if you dig deep its historical background, that's when you'll value the place.

island: Greater Asia
city: Ho Chi Minh
country: Vietnam

GPS location
10^ 46' 37.64" N
106^ 41' 43.77" E

escape rate:
structure location: 3.5
structure design: 3.0
structure grounds: 4.0
historical value: 5.0