Motorbike?!
Trip Start
Oct 29, 2009
1
10
17
Trip End
May 20, 2010
Saigon, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam
Monday, January 4, 2010
We weren't quite sure what to expect as we walked into the brick wall that is the humidity of Saigon, but compared to any of the other places we've visited so far, Vietnam certainly came with its fair share of culture shocks! The first thing we noticed when we arrived here were the motorbikes (scooters and motorcycles) - they're literally everywhere, on all sides of the road, and going in all directions (you Amazing Race fans would be very excited to witness the insanity that is the streets of Saigon)! We've never seen anything like it. Stop signs, traffic lights, sides of the road and even sidewalks are all suggestions here, and they're often ignored. And, then there's the honking... every car, truck, and scooter on the road is constantly blaring the horn (and some of them even have customized horns, like ringtones for your car - quite catchy actually and a great new business idea)! We learned later that they use the horns as a quick heads up to those around them that they are there and they are about to do something crazy - so watch out! But, after taking a breather from the initial shock, we realized that beneath the loud, fast-paced chaos all around us was a country full of warm and friendly people, and a landscape that makes you rethink your previous conceptions of beauty.
We flew into Saigon from Hong Kong shortly after New Years. After arguing with the bus driver about the cost of the trip from the airport to our hotel, which he insisted was 3000D each plus 3000D for each of our bags (which, it turns out, is about $0.70 US total - whoops!), we arrived at our hotel. The walk there was certainly an adventure. The first thing you need to learn to survive in Saigon is how to cross the street. You may think this is something you learned as a small child, holding your mother's hand and looking both ways. Well, throw out everything you've ever learned about street etiquette and prepare yourself for the most terrifying journey to the other side of the road that you will ever experience. Imagine a giant game of frogger; the hardest game of frogger you've ever played and one on which your life actually depends. That is the closest we can come to describing the madness of crossing the street in Saigon. Even the little streets are lethal. You do become very good at it though, after a few near misses. It didn't take us long to realize that the key was in following the locals. They were able to find gaps in the traffic that weren't actually there and lead us to safety before we caught on and managed to fend for ourselves.
Anyway, back to our hotel - the place was beautiful, far too nice for a couple of poor backpackers, but hey, when in Saigon.... It was right in the heart of the backpacker scene, and the owners were amazingly friendly and welcoming. After unloading our gear and grabbing a quick bite to eat down the street, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city. Our first taste of Vietnamese food did not disappoint and you can't argue with a $2.00 meal composed of two main dishes and two large beers. We set off through the crazy streets, battling a roundabout that was more determined to kill us than Mr. David Cadman. We first visited the Reunification Palace, built to be the temporary seat of power after the fall of Saigon, and later explored the Vietnam War Memorial museum. Though the museum was obviously depressing and challenging, we both felt it was a good experience overall. It was torturous to see sides of the war previously unknown to us, to see photos that never made it to our high school history class, and to see firsthand the preserved fetus of two conjoined twins, deformed as a result of Agent Orange. It was truly horrifying, but something that everyone needs to see in order to understand the country and how it came to be the place it is today.
That night, we kept it quiet - the long, jam-packed days had finally caught up with us and the museum had understandably left us feeling a bit down. So, we decided to take advantage of the really nice room we had scored that night: we ordered a pizza (yes, we ordered pizza in Vietnam, and no it wasn't the last time we ordered pizza in Vietnam) and sat in our hotel room watching movies. It turned out to be a really great night after the craziness of the past few days.
The next morning we set out to a town on the outskirts of Saigon, called Cholon, which is home to many of the Taoist and Buddhist pagodas. After about 3 hours of wandering around, trying to ask the locals, and winding up right back where we started, we finally realized we had a map the entire time and managed to find the first of the 3 temples. It was awesome - darkly lit like a Cathedral but much more colorful and organic.
Before visiting the other two temples, we stopped for a quick lunch at one of the roadside "stands." Considering we don't speak Vietnamese, we basically stood at the counter looking as helpless as possible until the owner came over and pointed to a few things he thought we would like. And, of course, he was right - it was delicious! We're still not entirely sure what we ate, but we would recommend it to anyone! One of the dishes (the most easily recognizable and describable) was fresh spring rolls filled with basil, a few other unnamed ingredients and topped with a sauce so amazing, we're not even sure if it truly existed.
After visiting the other two temples, we headed back to our hotel for the weekly Sunday Night Family Party. Each week, the hotel invites all of its guests to free snacks and drinks in an effort to cultivate a feeling of family (their slogan is "We are a family" and they reeeeally want you to feel it). At the party, we met a group of kids from some Scandinavian country (can't remember which one, not that they're all the same, but...), a guy from Australia, and a girl from Washington D.C. After the party was over, the 7 of us walked to a Lunar New Year festival being held in a nearby public square. There were loads of (apparently) pretty famous singers and musicians performing, and tons of stands selling all sorts of good food and desserts. Some of the performances were really impressive, especially a few of the singers, an amazing dance group and a band of women who played only percussion instruments. We watched the performances for a while, and sampled one of the local desserts: some sort of an apple-like fruit that was covered in chili powder...mmmm.
After we had had our fill, we caught a cab across town to a small bar with live music - we were really hoping to see a good Vietnamese bar band! Unfortunately, the only songs this bar band played were from the current Top 100 list in the States (think "Bad Day," "Gives You Hell," etc - Star 101.3 on a bad day). Not exactly what we had in mind, but still a fun time...it definitely made us a little nostalgic for home though. After the bar closed (at about 11 - bars close pretty early in Vietnam), we caught a cab back to the area near our hotel. We had one more drink and then headed back to our hotel for a little sleep before our flight to Hanoi early the next morning. We hear we're trading the organized chaos of Saigon for the pure chaos of Hanoi...it should be quite the adventure.
We're going to miss Saigon, with its colorful, slightly run down buildings and random, yet beautiful monuments and temples. And although we realize it will not end here, we're even going to miss the constant stream of "motorbike? motorbike?" as anyone and everyone attempts to throw you onto the back of theirs, even if it happens to be a bicycle they're riding. No, that's not a motorbike...
Comments
Loved this entry and your observations in the first paragraph. Spring Break 2025 - Iraq!
I agree! Great entry! The streets of vietnam in general are NUTS! stay safe lovelies!
those electrical/telephone (?) wires in your photos are out of control.