Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Mandy: 22nd – 27th October

On Tuesday we took a car back to Denang from Hoi An and had a short one hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Our hotel was in the busiest street in the District 1 area. We quickly checked in and went straight out for dinner. We sat in a restaurant right next to our hotel. There was no need to rush out and explore Saigon, our table was on the street and everything and everyone came to us! Hawker stalls and street vendors were setting up their food stalls right in front of our table on the pavement. An old lady parked her bike (laden with nuts to sell) right next to our table! She could not have got any closer to me if she tried. They have no idea about personal space here. There was a guy who walked up behind me and started massaging my shoulders before actually asking “would you like a massage?”

What is with the containers of grass on the tables? (maybe it is rice… our own little paddy field – bless) ….I asked later and yes it was growing rice….. a few days later they had shorter rice growing in a coconut shell. (smile) I guess that is for anyone who was on a flying visit to Asia and didn’t get time to visit the rice paddy fields. (wink)

There were ‘flattened squid’ carts everywhere. One lady stopped by us and started to put the already flat squid through a mini mangle!! What is that about?

Another guy with a bigger stall set up on the street in front of our hotel each night. He got his BBQ going and the first night he left his container of raw Chickens feet right by my chair (behind the ‘nut lady’s’ bike). He then started cooking the feet and whole Octopus on the BBQ. The whole street was buzzing, then a young guy came along, stood in the middle of the street (motorbikes swerving either side of him) and started a fire eating act! Saigon was mad! We loved it! We went for a walk afterwards and just stood watching the hundreds of motorbikes at the traffic lights. They had actually stopped, waiting for the lights to change, something that rarely happens in Asia. Earlier that day on our taxi journey from the airport they didn’t seem to stop at all in any direction it was amazing. Glen said they were like a flock of birds moving as one as if for safety in numbers but then we saw two motorbikes that had an accident right in front of the taxi. Some had helmets on, some not, some had masks on…… which we were told were to keep the sun off thier faces as the men like the women to have white skin! (A local lady who sat with us for ages in a cafe in Hoi An told us that) If that was true though why do they wear them at night….. and why do the men wear them (wink) anyway…..

Each night our street was buzzing. As more people arrived for the evening more small plastic chairs were brought out and lined along the street. As the pavements were filled they spilled on to the road until cars could hardly get through. They were mostly young back packers, the odd middle aged couple like us and a scattering of older white men with young Vietnamese girls!

Here too, the women wear matching tops and trousers (I always remember Courtney telling me that was a no no!) They look a little like pyjamas but they aren’t. Whereas we saw lots of old men wearing actual pyjamas in the day. Especially in Hoi An and An Hoi. Glen said they wander around like they have escaped from a home. However, there aren’t any homes here of course. They seem to have to work until they drop in Asia. So many tiny, thin, frail old women with hardly the strength to wear their conical hat on their head, sit on the pavements selling bits and bobs on the road side. We saw a team of workers with a refuse truck clearing up after the typhoon in An Hoi island and the women were brushing up and doing the hard labour and the men were holding the water hose or just sat on the pavement watching them brush the mud and leaves up! Here in Saigon everyone of every age and gender seems to be working. Some women have their child on their hip as they go around selling things in the bars and cafés.

Something that everyone has done here in Vietnam is sit on their haunches…..I think that is what they call it. We fell over backwards when we tried it! We can’t put our feet flat to the floor and stay there, maybe they can because they have done it since they were children and therefore the tendons are longer or something. But it must be comfortable as they all sit like that for hours on end and then spring up and walk off without any sign of their legs having pins and needles or cramp. One guide we had on a trip to the tunnels suggested we couldn’t do it as we were too fat! Cheeky devil. He was as skinny as a rake and was a bit obsessed with how much food Americans ate in particular.

I have mentioned many times how bad some of the toilets have been in Asia but we went to one nice cafe in Saigon and they were very good. I went to the toilets only to see the two doors without any male/female silhouettes, just the words ‘Nam’ and ‘Nu’ on the doors. Not used to always having a choice of toilet or even a toilet door often I was unsure of which door to go through. Something made me pick the ‘Nam’ door (I can’t remember why now) but I walked in and found myself stood in front of the urinals! Glen said that they often had big blocks of ice in the urinals, he hoped that was not an ice storage area and that it had some sort of toilet function!!! One thing that many toilets had was a comb on a string! No toilet paper, no flush (just a bucket of water and a saucepan) but oh yes they have a communal comb!! No wonder they all have nits over there!

Another thing about Vietnam is that the children sometimes pee randomly in the street whenever the fancy takes them! Not necessarily in the gutter either. On one journey we stopped at a bus station and a little boy stood at the top of the steps, which lead into the building (and toilets!) and just pee’d down them. No one batted an eye lid!

The Vietnamese people are very trusting. I went to one toilet in Danang and both cubicles had hand bags and coats and helmets on top of the cisterns. I assume they belonged to the female staff. To be fair, I say they were trusting, I think they were probably surprised to have a women ask to use the female toilets becuase the restaurant was full of men, not only were we the only tourists but I was the only female.

On one bus journey we stopped off at a cafe and toilet stop and everyone left their handbags on the coach even though the driver left the coach and left the door open. No one spoke English and we had no idea of how long the driver was stopping for so we rushed off (with our bags! we are not so trusting!) and went to the toilets even though there were a couple of men in the toilet up a ladder knocking a wall down!! Needs must!

There were lots of lovely buildings in Saigon. Often with French influence from their occupation in the 1800’s. They even have their very own Notre Dam Cathedral. The day we went inside there was a wedding taking place. It was lovely to see after experiencing a cremation in Sanur (Bali). As the service ended and the bride and groom and wedding party walked towards the exit there was a storm with torrential rain. Now bearing in mind this is not exactly a rare event in Asia, we were surprised to see that not one of the group had an umbrella, eventually a tourist handed the bride their umbrella after everyone realised that the rain was not going to stop. The rest of the guests pulled up their dresses and followed on their motorbikes with only their plastic rain macs to keep their best outfits dry!

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. I found it difficult to understand how people could live in these tunnels and small underground rooms when I couldn’t even walk through one of the tunnels. The story of how they managed to survive was fascinating. The way they had to cover their tracks and not exit through a tunnel entrance in case an American soldier saw them but instead exiting through a hole into the nearby river. How they had to cook in the tunnels without having smoke come out of the ground giving their secret tunnels away to the Americans. I can’t explain it very well, go there yourself if you ever get the chance or read up about it….instead of watching it on films.

On the way to the Cu Chi tunnels we found out why there were so many men walking around selling Hammocks in Vietnam. (always men funnily enough, not sure why) we passed cafés and roadside stalls beneath trees and all had rows and rows of hammocks instead of chairs. We weren’t sure if it was a place locals went to have a nap in the day or sleep there at night.

The Reunification Palace, the setting for the end of the Vietnam war

We enjoyed Saigon, it wasn’t as manic as we had heard. (Or maybe we were just getting used to it after spending a month in Vietnam) There were park areas, upmarket areas and local markets….. It had everything and is well worth a visit if you get a chance. It is a party city, other towns in Vietnam ‘shut up shop’ by 9pm but here we never actually saw anywhere closed!