Saigon
Trip Start
May 28, 2012
1
4
46
Trip End
Oct 24, 2012
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Friday, June 1, 2012
We glided into Vietnam on our upmarket Tiger airways flight and got through customs without a hitch. Jocelyn, the lovely lady we're staying with and family friends with Jason, was waiting for us with open arms! The taxi ride home was definitely an experience as it was our first look at the traffic and how outrageously crazy they are on their bikes. Not just Auckland rush-hour crazy, I mean full on mental - lets go every which way, don't care if there is a car, bus or a person in my way, fast, swervy - outrageous. There are 11.5 million people who live in Ho Chi Minh city alone and they all seem to drive their bikes at the same time. To cross the road for the first time was horrific, we have been advised just to walk, and the scooters will weave around us...just don't stop - and have started to get used to it now!
The whole scooter and bikes thing apparently exploded about 20 years ago and is the number one way of how people here get around. You would easily see a whole family on the back of one of these vehicles - including small babies and children as well as objects and household items. Apparently crashes are not that common, however we did see a family come off a bike on Saturday and that did include a little baby - I'd guess no more than 18 months old eeep! Don't worry - happy ending - they all looked fine, with the baby getting a pat on the head!
Friday night we went out for a drink and dinner and then pretty much crashed. On Saturday we were booked in for a Vespa tour of the Mekong Delta so we burst on to the scene nice and early and were picked up by our guides who gave us our first experience driving through the city on the back of a scooter. I for one was a little rattled but Jason loved it. While we were waiting for the rest of the group for the tour, the guides were teaching everyone how to drive their own bikes and Jason was given an automatic as he had not driven a manual vespa before. It turned out for the better based on some of the tracks we had to endure! I opted to be a pillion with my own guide chauffeuring me around as I didn't back myself...but actually just more wanted to sit there taking the countryside in and of course taking some sweet snaps...as I do best.
We went deep into the Mekong along all kinds of different terrain, dodgy bridges and paths. We did a couple of ferry crossings where some guy insisted on having a photo with me and another tried to sell me some rank looking crab type crawly things out of his two week old brown plastic bag. I politely declined. There were a few refreshment stops along the way where we tried our first Vietnamese iced chocolate/coffee - they pour condensed milk in the bottom and then a coffee/chocolate mixture on top. It was quite nice however then I saw a hair frozen in one of my ice cubes so that was that. We also stopped to look at an inside shrimp farm which had some tiny ones (see photos) estimated to grow full size in four months! The place had some amazingly cute children who all just stood there looking and posing for photos, I think we were more of a novelty to them than anything else. We were also given a chilled sugar-kane drink which was different but nioce!
We got back on our bikes and carried on through the hidden paths getting a lot of stares as it's very uncommon to see white people on the bikes. Our guide told us that basically it's super rare for the Vietnamese to walk anywhere (even to the end of their driveway...if one is so lucky to have a driveway) so it kinda works in a rank of poorest of poor will have a push bike or potentially would walk and then the majority has a scooter or bike. Which is why we were getting the stares because usually the taxi's and cars are more seen as how the westerners get around. Plus we were kind of in the middle of nowhere where tourists don't really go. The guides then took us through some markets which had a lot of variety and was quite a wake up call with how these people make a living...25 different types of rice - who knew? fruit, guts, pig heads, live fish, skinned frogs with no heads...which are STILL alive, yip they had it all. Noone has fridges so they won't buy anything unless it's still wiggling! We had a snack there which included a lot of fresh fruit and some cooked scallops with these delish nuts and erby things on. I love the dragonfruit and mangosteen. Yum. The cats were rank and mangy. Ewww but definitely a market which would only see tourists when the vespa tour brings them in. The guide said he had only ever seen one other white person at the market the whole time he had done the tours - which was about 7 years!!! We carried on and saw a lady making incense sticks by manually placing the sticks through a machine, which would then spit them out the other side with the gunpowder smelly stuff on. She got a whole $2.50 US / day. Wooot!
Lastly we stopped for lunch right at the end at this amazing floating restaurant where you could fish off the side from your seat. Jason said the mens loo was basically just pissing off the edge of a platform into the water! We had some amazing food, super traditional and delicious. Finally the guides dropped us back at Jocelyns which involved a proper trip through the city in rush hour and I almost had a heart attack/shat my pants. It was pretty scary when you are less than arms reach to a massive bus and your driver is just weaving in and out of other scooters and cars and people without a second thought. I was scared to move in case I off balanced the bike and I continued to look behind or in front to make sure Jason was still alive. He, of course, loved it.
Overall it was just such a stunning day. We were lucky with no rain and only one guy came off his bike with a few gashes in his leg. No big deal. There was only a few times where I worried for my life (mostly over the bridges) but on the whole it was just such an amazing time and I felt like we saw a side where not a lot of people would usually go. We felt like we saw enough of the Mekong on our travels to not have to go back down there and would totally recommend to everyone reading this right now!
On Sunday we went to the markets and a look round town. Jason and I both struck a deal for some sneakers, mine ADIDAS and Jasons Nike - we got them for about $30 each and I also got me some Raybans! I'm sure they are totally legit too wink wink! The markets were pretty crazy though, you can't take an interest in anything or you have three to four people suddenly swarm at you wanting you to buy their stuff. We bought a hand fan off one lady and three more surrounded us trying to get us to buy the same shit off them, letting us know their fans have more wind! After walking away one girl followed us for two blocks letting us know 'it wasn't fair'. She and the markets got a bit much for me I must say, especially when people would touch me, I suppose it's something to get used to and by the end i'll be a pro at telling them where to go. We went and had a sit down in the park in the shade and a young girl walked up to us and we were like oh here we go again... but she said she had been studying English and wondered if she could talk to us a bit to practise! Then another girl came up to join in, they both were pretty surprised when we let them know some places in New Zealand can drop to below 0 degrees in the winter! Pretty sure they didn't actually know what snow was.
Geckos are everywhere! They are super fast and wriggly and I always think they're about to jump on me and I love the electrical storms!
Today (Monday) was a big day, we got up nice and early and headed out to the Cu Chi tunnels. Caught the bus at Sinh Cafe and headed out on the two hour trip. The tunnels aren't actually very far away, but most of that time is spent going slowly in annoying bike traffic. Out there we learnt about the 'hero American killers' and their medals received for killing 'American enemies' who had disrupted quiet, happy Cu Chi. I opted not to shoot the guns for 35,000 dong (roughly $2.20 NZ) a bullet (minimum ten) but the booms from the range combined with the forest around were enough to convince us that it wouldn't have been a very fun place to be during the war. Tunnels themselves were pretty buzzy. The actual tunnels they used were tiny, but we went in the slightly larger ones that you could crouch and walk down. Jamie opted not to go in due to her fear of small spaces with too many people, and was probably just as well - she would have freaked out, but I went and did about 40 metres or so. Some of the guys went further but that involved getting down on the stomach in the dark to fit through some of the smaller holes, which I wasn't too keen for. We were in a big group so it wasn't the best in terms of getting to see everything or hearing what the guide had to say as we would have liked but it was still a pretty rad experience. Some of the traps were pretty lethal and designed to not kill but to maim with some nasty spikes to the legs, back or armpit. Back in town we were succumbed to the temptation of cheese burgers due our hunger from not eating all day. Hit the spot. We then wandered down to the Opera house and got told off by the cops for sitting on the steps, and lastly met up with Jocelyn's friend for a coffee and a chat about some of the places we're heading on the trip.
Tomorrow is our last day in HCMC, we're getting the sleeper bus to Nha Trang tomorrow night which should be interesting. The day will be spent getting our hair done at some salon which gives you an hour and a half hair wash - where the better half of the hour is actually a head and neck massage. Divine.
Comments
It sounds like Thai iced coffee which is delicious and 100% hairless