Crazy Saigon! Too many scooters!
Trip Start
Jul 28, 2009
1
53
121
Trip End
Aug 10, 2010
Where I stayed
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Friday, December 25, 2009
We found a cheap hotel for $20 per night with air conditioning and cable tv. It was luxury for us. Oh and lets not forget HOT showers. Of course, it was so hot and humid that a bit of cold water was refreshing but at least we had a choice.
We went to visit the War Remnants museum and it was really depressing. How humans can be so cruel to other humans is beyond me. This war lasted 17 years and 676 billion dollars was spent. They showed photos of children who had been born to parents that had been affected by Agent Orange, it brought tears to my eyes. Nik asked the important question, why do we have wars? To which I had no answer.
After the museum, we went and found a place to eat. We came across this place that had fake ice and snow on the outside and it was blaring with loud music. It looked like a cool place to rest. It was filled with young vietnamese people and we were the only tourists in there. The women were dressed up in sexy clothes and the men wearing their best outfits. It was like a night club but during the day. There was no way you could have a conversation because the music was so loud, but I was reminded that most young people around the world are the same nowadays. They all had their cell phones and sat and texted more than talking with their friends around the table.
We took a ride on the bicycle tuk tuk. The old man was so thin and frail, I almost felt bad getting on the front of the bike with all my weight. But he managed pretty well and he got us to our destination safely through all that traffic.
The one good thing about Saigon was that we learned to cross a never ending busy street of scooters, cars, trucks and tuk tuks. The first time we tried crossing, we stood there for half an hour. Finally we were told that we must cross the street slowly and never turn back. It’s a special skill avoiding getting knocked down, but as long as you stay calm and walk with confidence, all the scooters go around you instead. I think we can cross any street in the world now!
NIKOLAS VERSION
We had go to Vietnam and leave the beautiful island of KO PHI PHI. I hated to leave but we had to go so it was fine because I live in paradise anyways. But I was sort of disappointed because we went to the busy side of Vietnam. I didn’t like it because they were so pushy and sticking things for us to buy in your face and they wouldn’t give up.
We went to the war museum and it was so hot. I had to stand for the whole time. The museum was interesting but it was bad to see what the Americans and the Vietnamese did to each other. It was horrible to see these kids that were born deformed by the Agent Orange. They had these tiger cages where they would put people in them surrounded by barbwire, you couldn't even sit up, that's how low it was.
