The pulse of Vietnam - Saigon!



Sorry for the delay in posting our Vietnam blog! We're a little behind, so we'll start with Saigon!



Enjoying the cafe culture...

In short we love it here and will definitely come back again in the future. Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City to the officials) is a city to behold. From the moment we arrvied, we felt comfortable and knew that we would love it. It is like the NYC of SE Asia. There is an undeniable pulse to the city and I'm pretty sure that like New York, Saigon never sleeps!



Typical Saigon traffic...

 The traffic and number of motorbikes on the street is like nothing we've ever experienced before. A sea of humanity swirling around you... Crossing the street requires nerves of steel. You literally step out into the traffic and walk at a consistent pace as the traffic swerves around you. You only have trouble if you stop (because you're terrified), or run (because you can't wait to get off the road), or if a bus is approaching as they do not deviate for pedestrians. Even the sidewalk is dangerous as motorbikes frequently use these as additonal traffic lanes.

We would recommend staying in the old (backpacker) part of town. You could spend days at a sidewalk restaurant just people watching. There are a lot of persistant hawkers (often young children), trying to sell you everything under the sun - mostly sunglasses, and books (that have been photocopied and glued together). Persistant but not rude, just trying to make a living! We were well looked after at our small hotel (Beautiful Saigon II). Once again super friendly, warm staff that can't do enough to help you.

Highlights of Saigon would be:



Shaved head, face and more...

1. Aaron's $5 haircut at a dodgy salon. This included hair cut, face shaving, head, back and neck massage, face mask, and ear cleaning (that was a surprise to Aaron, especially because the guy couldn't speak English and Aaron didn't know what he was doing).
2. Pho! Need I say more. A staple of the Vietnamese diet. It's cheap and delicious and sold on nearly every street corner. Yum...

3. Crossing the street - an experience like no other...
 

Phone lines - Saigon style!



4. The people - once again the best part of the trip. Vietnamese people are extremely resilient. With a history of conflict you would think that the people would be war weary and resentful. We have seen only optimism and harmony. They seem to be overwhelming happy with their lot in life, maybe due to the importance that they place on family above all else. Each home, no matter how small of flimsy, has a little shrine with incense burning in honour of their ancestors.



5. Trying to understand how the telecommunications could possibly work. The lines are everywhere and seem to have no organization whatsoever.

  

The President's war room in the bunker of the palace

Isaac: I loved the hotel where we stayed because the people were great and the food was delicious. I couldn't understand why people talked about Saigon as being bad and having thieves everywhere. I didn't experience anything like that. The staff at the hotel played hacki-sack with me in the laneway. There were some weird experiences, including crossing the road. It was jammed full of cars whizzing around at highspeed, and you couldn't stop in the middle of the road or else you would be hit. It's funny how my mom was worried about crossing 20th st in Calgary on the way to school. That seems like a quiet country road in comparison! We had our best ice cream of the trip and we also had some great Vietnamese food including Pho. We went to a number of museums and learned about the history of Vietnam. I learned that Vietnam has been invaded by many countries including China (multiple times) and France. The Vietnam war (American war) was just one of many wars. Even today China is taking control of some of Vietnam's islands (there are hundreds of them).  



One of the 2 tanks that ended the war!



The reunification palace was the coolest place that we went to. We got to go down into the secret bunker that they used to hide in during air raids. The bunker could withstand a 2 tonne bomb. We also got to see the tank that broke through the front gate of the palace to end the war in 1975 (outside the war museum).







Ready for a visit from the tooth fairy!



Ella: When we flew over Saigon I noticed that it was a huge city. The buildings seemed as though they were stacked on top of each other. The night that we arrived we went to a Pho restaurant. We got the last table in the restaurant (which was on the street) and other people had to line up and wait. I can see why because it was probably the best Pho in the world! Compared to Thai food, Vietnamese food is milder. I like it more! In the few days that we spent in Saigon we visited a couple of museums. We learned that Vietnam is used to wars and destruction. They have had to rebuild the country many times. Despite this the people are the exact opposite of sad and gloomy. If that had happened to me even just once, I'd feel terrible. We also went to an Art Museum that showed amazing paintings, carvings, sculptures and even some ancient artifacts that they seem to have stolen from Cambodia. Probably during a war!! The most important thing that happened to me in Saigon was that I lost a tooth and I got 50,000 dong from the tooth fairy!!!



Treats for everyone...



 Lily: The things I liked most about Saigon were: the delicious ice cream, the museums, the pho and the people! The lady at the hotel took me to visit her sister - she was very nice and gave me lots of candy. The traffic was crazy. There must have been 7,000 motorbikes at the front of every traffic light because they squish their way to the front of the line. Crossing the road was sort of hard. It's not at all like crossing the road in Canada. They could use some crossing patrollers like my brother!! I don't think he would handle it that well because noone listens to the rules. But maybe there are no rules to begin with...

Next stop Nha Trang (via overnight train), then Hoi An....


Reunification Palace - Saigon