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| Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon |
And so, after a long, broken up and at times rather uncomfortable night bus we finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon as many still call it...
Crazy-loud from hooting horns and jam-packed with motos, other travellers 'warned' us about how busy and hectic the city was and how they hadn't liked it very much, so with much anticipation, trepidation and I'm sure lots more 'ions', we stepped off out of the frying pan and straight into the... hustle and bustle of a city? OK, so not so 'awful' after all. Yes busy, yes loud but intimidating and horrible? No, not for me. This new exciting place opened up opportunities of new flavours, sights, sounds and first thing to note: No tuk tuks! (We did actually kind of miss those dangerous, stalkerish, don't-take-no-for-an-answer old friends).
Despite fighting off the start of a cold, feeling rather frustrated after a longer-than-expected journey across the Cambodia-Vietnam border, I actually found the craziness of Saigon rather charming and less over-whelming than others had led us to believe. A bit like Bangkok in it's busy streets, corners taken over by street food vendors and Seven Eleven type minimarts everywhere you look, it felt warmer and more inviting than we'd expected, and noticeably cleaner than Cambodia.
We stayed in the heart of the backpacker area in District 1, which sounds like something out of the Hunger Games I agree, at a little hotel called CK Saigon Central Hotel (formerly the Big Mama Hotel). The taxi dropped us off on a super busy road and pointed towards a tiny alleyway.
We approached with disbelief that anything, including a whole hotel could actually be located down such a small alley but to our surprise we were met by bright restaurant signs, hotel billboards and even a flurry of motos exiting the tiny lane-way.
But its those crazy little lanes packed with restaurants, shops and hotels that play a part in the city's special vibe. We walked a short way in and there it was, a cute little entrance area, a shelf for your shoes and reception of this rather shiny, clean and cosy looking hotel. Greeted with a very warm smile and hello, everyone was just lovely and we were soon shown to our tiny but just-what-we-needed room.
It was rather unfortunate that I did come down with a cold/flu and didn't have the most enthusiasm for exploration on our first day, however, we found a few places thanks to Ms Hong at reception including the too-good-to-be-true ABC Bakery for one, which had far too much choice when it came to bakery goods. We did delight in a bakery splurge. We feasted our tired, irritable bodies and then I went to bed because I felt like crap. Yay. (Sarcasm.)
The next day didn't look great for being an intrepid explorer either, what with all the snot (my apologies but I'm trying to paint a picture here), so I stayed in bed, whilst poor Tom went a little mad in our 3 X 3 windowless cell and had to escape every now and then.
We did pop out for a 'Banh Mi Sandwich' - Vietnamese or should be for 'bloody awesome baguette with EVERYTHING tasty in it including chilli sauce. And...that was about it. Oh and tasty bowl of chicken Pho for dinner.
The next day I felt, well still crappy, but nothing that a couple of flu tablets can't solve. So off we went, to the War Museum, for some lunch and then the Postal Office which is actually a tourist attraction. I had thought Tom was kidding when he said post office, but it was a pretty awesome building. Unfortunately it was at this point where my health took a little nose dive, I blame the post office, and I felt as if I was going to pass out so my day's excitement ended there, after a short taxi ride back to the hotel.
Tom however, took it upon himself to venture on that afternoon, he took lots of photos, got offered drugs by several moto taxis, had a beer at the bar on level 52 of the city's really tall tower, I know I should know the name but I can't remember right now. Took photos of Saigon Square, the Opera House and lots of other places. I should detail where else he went BUT that was his story (and I can't recall).
Look the whole point of this post was to give you an idea, a feeling of what Ho Chi Minh was like. And in reality we didn't see it all. But I was ill damn it! What we did do is live like normal people in a cool new city. We ate great food at street stalls, including their fried rice flour pieces which Blog 'Vietnamcoracle' described as 'Vietnamese French Fries' and they didn't disappoint. We shopped for fruit from the locals, ate our lunch in the parks with the locals, saw how the city prepared for their upcoming New Year Celebrations, learned about these humble, happy people's not so happy, war-torn history at the War Museum and met some lovely, warm people who made us feel welcome. So welcome that we went back again for a night after our 5 days on Phu Quoc Island (now that's a whole other story for a whole other post), but you get it. We enjoyed our time spent in Ho Chi Minh, and that's all that matters.
Now Phu Quoc Island...we had a not so different sounding nickname for that place...
***
What's with EVERYONE saying "Good morning Vietnam!"?
So from sheer annoyance at hearing this everywhere and knowing it was from a film I hadn't seen, we started watching Good Morning Vietnam. Now we understand the reference but we did turn it off about 20 minutes in. We had been seeking to learn a little more about Vietnam, the war or even a bit about the Vietnamese people and soon learned this was not going to come from this particular cinematic experience. If I'm honest, I grew bored, found the film to be totally outdated, obviously, but also I was rather disheartened by all the comedy and wartime cheeriness, I have a sense of humour sure, but a visit to the War Museum, numerous encounters with people missing limbs from landmines during the war and a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels will rather put you off 'war comedy' for a while. I appreciate that by not watching the film we do not know how it ends or how Vietnam, the people etc were represented in the end, but that I something I can and will Google at a later stage.
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