Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam - 22 Nov 2010
Well we set out today with the best of intentions to be diligent tourists, experiencing local culture and looking at Museums and Monuments of historic significance but everything we tried we either couldn't find or it was closed so we ended up in a mall 10 Pin Bowling and then to really cement ourselves as Western Consumerist Pigs here in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Vietnam we ate KFC :)
It seems such a long time since I blogged. I wrote what, in my semi hysterical state after a crazed taxi ride through Mumbai, seemed a hilarious account of the taxi ride and a semi rant on the ripoff of currency transactions comparing banks rather unfavourably with the crooks on the streets of Mumbai who are at least up front about stealing. Unfortunately my iPhone blogging app crashed and took my post with it. All I can remember is likening the music the Cab Driver played to what would happen if an infinite number of Monkeys were given one of those iPhone apps for creating drum & bass beats and a couple of Bollywood Actors screeching over the top.
Anyway after 20 hours on the road in Cabs, Planes and mostly Airports I made it to Saigon yesterday afternoon. Karen came from Australia and beat me to the hotel by a few hours. We were both pretty shattered but we stumbled out into the street to find some food. I'd read the local market down the road has great little food stalls so we tried that. Unfortunately the market features an open air butchers section and the smell of blood permeates the whole place. That put paid to the little bit of appetite I had but Karen was still hungry so we sat down at one of the stalls just to look at a menu and were immediately descended on by 3 crones who circled us to make sure we couldn't get away. The kitchen was disgusting but in our pathetic jet-lagged state we didn't have the heart to just get up and walk off so we ordered chicken and noodles, when it came it looked awful but we tried to eat a bit to save face. We just couldn't do it so we just paid and slunk away. We couldn't find anything else that appealed so we ran back to the hotel and ate all the mini-bar snacks, watched in-house movies and felt miserable. Karen fell asleep.
Unwilling to admit defeat & still wanting something I went out again. Earlier I'd noticed a frozen yoghurt bar that made Mango Smoothies which was about all I felt I could manage for dinner so I tried to find that again . Turning right at the bottom of street instead of going straight I found about 4 great looking restaurants in the first block. I also found the outdoor food court which is probably what the article I read referred to. There were BBQ's with whole fish, prawns and other meats cooking up and bubbling pots of Noodles & Veges so we are much heartened by the food situation after feeling like running back home last night. I brought home a Mango smoothie for K and she praised me for my manly food hunting abilities, had the smoothie and went back to sleep. I felt like a winner.
Today we decided to redeem ourselves with culture and learning and things of beauty and historical significance. We set out to the Reunification Palace but it was closed when we got there. Had an interesting walk and lots of fun anyway. I have to say GPS on my iPhone is awesome. Drop a bunch of pins in Google Maps before you go then use the current location on the map to see exactly how to get around. Can't get lost even in a City as crazy as Saigon. Technically Saigon is called Ho Chi Minh City these days but it seems most people still call it Saigon, particularly the inner city where we are staying.
It was absolutely bucketing down with rain when we left the bowling alley so we provided some free street theatre for the Vietnamese outside the mall who found the spectacle of Karen & I purchasing and donning plastic rain ponchos from an old lady hawking them absolutely hilarious for some reason. We were happy to entertain.
Out for dinner and probably a movie in the room and an early night. We are off to the Chu Ching Tunnels tomorrow via speedboat up the river, whoo hoo!
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