Day 92: HCMC

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We spent only 2 days in Ho Chi Minh City, better known as Saigon. It is a very hectic place, especially after cambodia. Sooo many motor bikes - I think more than any other city we've been to. The traffic is just crazy, but since 95% of the vehicles are motor bikes, somehow everyone keeps moving. The food is great though, and the people are friendly.

There is a 3 block area in the middle of town called Phan Ngu Lao that is pretty well set up for tourists. Lots of good food, tons of hotels and guest houses, internet cafes, coffee shops, bars, food stalls and souvenir shops. I rediscovered my love of vietnamese baguette sandwiches, and of course pho and spring rolls.

Our first full day there we explored the Phan Ngu Lao area and found ourselves a better place to stay for the next night. We were planning on doing a walking tour of nearby sites, but it started pouring HARD. We just ended up reading, playing cards and watching tv in our room, broken up with a bunch of small meals at nearby restaurants.

Luckily the rain let up the second day, so we went to Dam Sen water park. We'd been looking for a water park ever since the one in Guangzhou was closed. And this one met all our expectations and more. There are more than 10 water slides, a lazy river, a wave pool, a zipline... everything but a hot tub.

Some of the waterslides were a little too extreme for us in our old age though. I threw out my neck on a fast turn on one that was enclosed, and Steph hit her head hard on the same one. We only went on that one once. Other injuries to note: I cut my nose with my thumbnail while plugging my nose at the bottom of a slide, steph hurt her ear on an impact at the bottom of a slide, and I cut my foot somehow. But it was all worth it!

After we'd had our fill of waterslide related injuries, we left the water park and checked out the adjacent Dam Sen park. We rented a swan paddle boat on the lake, which was fun for about 20 minutes, then went on a roller coaster that made me remember I hurt my neck on the slide. We walked around for a while - getting stared at by the locals, and laughing / feeling sorry for the animals in the pitiful zoo. We were on our way out but on a whim decided to go on one last ride that had a bunch of dinosaurs out front. It ended up being the scariest ride I think I've ever been on. We were on a boat moving down a lazy river, when an animatronic dinosaur roared and stuck its head right where mine had been! We had to dodge the dino's left and right. Even when you knew it was coming it was still really scary. And it lasted for 15 minutes! We were shaking when we finally got out.

We had hired two moto taxis to take us there (you just sit on the back of a motorbike and hang on for dear life) so we got to experience the craziness of the traffic firsthand. We thought the ride there was bad until we got our ride back. There were probably twice as many motor bikes on the streets, but they seemed to be going just as fast. At one point a few ambulances approached coming towards us, but the only effect was that the "street" got shifted by one lane to our right. Oncoming traffic was in our lane, and we were on the sidewalk.

So... probably not your typical two day tour of Saigon. We would have stayed longer, but new years is creeping up and we may try to meet friends, so we want to get the most out of our time in vietnam. Now we are in Muine, which is an awesome town on the beach and the kite surfing capital of southeast asia. I'll save that for the next blog.

Here's a few pictures:

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Comments

[Matt Potterton]

He just wanted some food!
Look at that poor misunderstood dino. Should have just jammed some crackers down his throat and he'd have been content.