Off and running in Asia

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After spending less than 48 hours in both Boston and Chicago, I was off again. This time I headed the opposite direction to Saigon, Vietnam via Tokyo. Because of the 12 time difference and 24 hours of travel time, July 18 was spent almost entirely on airplanes. I flew Japan Airlines for the first time and was delighted to find on-demand movies on the 6 hour flight over to Saigon from Tokyo. This is in contrast to American, which had 10 channels to choose from only you had to watch according to schedule, which doesn't work particularly well for someone who's known to nap on flights.

My first 24 hours in Saigon included a series or rookie traveler mistakes, or really just knuckleheaded-ness. When I exited the customs area and stepped out into Saigon, I saw hundreds of Vietnamese waiting for friends, family and travelers. Unfortunately, none was my taxi driver who I asked the hotel to send to pick me up at a lofty $3 premium compared to hailing a cab on my own. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, only in this case, I didn't bother to write down any of the contact or address information of the hotel. Other than the name and the area of town, I didn't know where to go. Luckily one of the people waiting to pick up someone else did know, and he told my cab driver where to go. Once I made it to the hotel (for less than $5), I discovered why I had not been picked up: I had asked to be picked up on the 19th--the next day! The good news was that suddenly an "extra" day had materialized for me, and the bad news was that they did not have any rooms for that night. Actually it wasn't that bad because I was able to get a room right across the street for the same price.

Once I had dropped off my stuff at the room, I headed to the corner, where a lively bar called Go 2 seemed to be filled with backpackers. I met a pair English brothers and we planned to meet the next day around 10.30am to explore the city, as they had just arrived as well. I went to sleep just after 2.30am and didn't bother setting my alarm since I usually can't sleep more than 8 hours if I try. My room was completely dark, so when I woke up, a couple times in the middle of the night, I had no idea if it was light out yet. When I decided that it was time to get up, I had to do a double take looking at my watch, which said 1.30pm! So much for meeting up with my new buddies. That still left me some time to grab lunch and get a quick look around the city.

The hotel helped me book a lunch reservation and told me that it was not walking distance, so I needed to take a motorbike taxi. One of the first things you will notice as you enter Saigon is that there ar motorbikes everywhere. These bikes are much smaller than what you would see in the US or the Vespas that are all over Italy. It's actually like comparing a mountain bike to your mom's old bike with a basket in front that's been sitting in the garage for years. Some of the lower end Chinese models sell for as little as $400. So off I went on the back of one of the motorbikes, and it was quite an experience weaving in and out of traffic and merely slowing down at intersections, where traffic lights are a rarity. Of course, no one wears a helmet. The ten minute cost me $1. When I got off, I decided that I would be taking taxis for there on out. The funny thing is that on short rides, the taxis may only cost $2, so for the added safety and air conditioning, it's not a bad investment. Perhaps my apprehension on the motorbikes is a sign of my aging. When I ran into the 22 and 24 year old British guys later that night, they said they loved the motorbikes.

One of the must-stop tourist sites in Saigon is the War Museum, formerly known as the War Crimes Museum. In addition to old tanks, planes and guns on display, there were lots of posters and photos from the war and its victims. The shots of some of the agent orange and napalm victims were particularly disturbing. There were also pictures of kids and grown adults that were born with deformities, like missing arms or fingers. As one friend cautioned, it was a very sobering experience.

While visiting Notre Dame, a brick replica of the Paris version, and the old post office, a Vietnamese girl came up to me and asked if I spoke English. Would I mind talking to her so she could practice her English? As a student of Italian, I appreciated her efforts to learn English and respected her savvy for seeking out native English speakers. In general, I have found that while many Vietnamese speak English, there are very few that I have come across that really speak really good English. This includes many of the guides that I've had on tours. One thing I find funny is that when they don't understand what I've said, they automatically respond "yes." So questions like "Which way is the museum?" might get answered with a "yes" and smile.

After chatting with my new friend, Hue, for a while, I was ready to head off to some of the pagodas around town. I figured that I'd invite Hue to come along. She could be my tour guide, and I would help her practice her English.

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Nightlife in Saigon is not what I expected for such a big city. In general, things happen much earlier, I believe in all of Vietnam. Most nice restaurants begin to close just after ten, and bars and clubs are supposed to close by midnight, although some simply pull down the shades and continue to stay open. The interesting thing is that they are not really trying to fool the authorities, but rather allowing them to save face by "appearing" to follow the rules. I found myself sitting down to eat a couple times around 9.30-10.00 to near empty restaurants. As is true in most other places, there are plenty of more divey type restaurants that stay open until the wee hours of the night.

I hopped around from the backpacker area, to the downtown area and all the high end hotels, which had nice rooftop bars, usually with a cheesy band singing songs in English. I did find a swanky place that I could see being in Manhattan or London called the Q Lounge, right across from two of the nicest hotels in town, The Caravelle and the Park Hyatt. I liked the house music that they were playing, but there weren't many people out and those that were out all seemed to be foreigners. My first three nights in the city left me thinking that the nightlife wasn't too exciting, and then I made it to a club called Lush that a couple people living in Saigon had recommended. It was a great mix of locals and some foreigners. I ran into the Korean girl from my tour group who had recommended the place and ended up hanging out with her and her cousins who apparently owned the place.

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I used my final two days in Saigon to do some tours outside of the city, the first to the Mekong Delta and the second to the Cu Chi tunnels. Both tours left right from the backpacker area, right next to my hotel, and the buses were completely full, and not particularly comfortable. The tour to the Delta began with a boat ride where we saw a small floating market, which consisted of a string of boats, on which the owners were selling different kinds of fruits and vegetables. We made several side stops where we saw how some of the locals made a living. The first was with a woman who made rice waffers. I was the lucky volunteer to pour of the batter onto the waffle maker-like oven and to press down the clamp to cook the mix. I can't say that my waffer was as full as the woman's, but it was still tastey. We also made a stop at at pop-rice maker and a coconut candy maker. Many of these little treats would end up being my snacks for the next few days.

While my first day of touring was on the water, my second day had a focus below ground--the Cu Chi tunnels. Cu Chi is an area outside of Saigon where a small group of Viet Cong guerillas lived. To survive the heavy US bombing of their area, they developed a complex network of underground tunnels, where they could hide from their enemies and surprise attack or easily escape. Today, there is only a widened tourist version of the tunnels that can be accessed. Entrance to the tunnel area begins with a 15 minute video full of Viet Cong propanganda on the guerilla heroes, some of whom were awarded honors for being top "american enemy killers". The grounds of the area included some exhibitions of the various deadly traps that the Cu Chis set for their enemies. It must have been excruciatingly painful to get caught in one of those. The Cu Chis were extremely resourceful in creating their weapons, which often times were powered by gun powder from American bombs and their casings. There was also a firing range where you could shoot from a variety of guns, including AK-47s and M16s at about $1.50 a bullet. The tourist tunnel itself was 100 meters and had two emergency exits every 30 meters or so. It was tight for me to get through there and by the time I made it to the end I was dripping sweat. Crazy to think that the real tunnels where much smaller and went for miles in each direction.

Travel tidbits:

• The Yellow House Hotel in the backpacker district has clean rooms at $12/double. Friendly and help staff.
  
• THK tours is one of the budget tour operators and their guides spoke good English.
  
• Q Lounge and Lush are cool places to go out to party
  
• Amigo-great Argentinean steaks, which you cannot get legally in the US, happen to be less expensive than the Amerian and Australian versions that are also on the menu
  
• Blue Ginger offers a range of fixed menus of good Vietnamese food. Just be prepared to eat. I couldn't come close to finishing everything.
  
• Maxim's was fairly high end by Vietnamese standards. The restaurant is right next to the Majestic Hotel, and it feels like it would in a scene in a James Bond movie. The food was good, but don't expect to see any locals in there.
  

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Photos

Cooking a Rice Waffer
In the Mekong Delta

US Tank
At the War Museum

Boat on the Mekong
Life on the Mekong

My first meal in Vietnam
At Ngon ("delicious" in English) Restaurant

Cu Chi Tunnels
Down I go into an entrance to a little underground hideout.

Comments

[Amy]

Cu Chi Hideout!!
Andy Anderson!! Hey Bud, so happy to read your blog this morning...finally was able to catch up on a bit of your travels. Sounds like you're in an amazing time of life, experiencing so much. Your eyes are lucky to have seen all that you have -I'm envious! Miss you lots in SF. I wish we had Cu Chi tunnels here, much more thrilling than Muni! hee hee. Safe travels and hope you're well and having a freakin blast! ~xo

[Ramona]

sake?
What a huge change from Europe. So what's your Vietnames replacement for a good wine?

[Mike]

Go north!
So what are the chances you can jump a few hundred miles north into China?

[Ma-nster]

"your mom's old bike with a basket in front that's been sitting in the garage for years"? What could you have been thinking of? Hmm that food looks good. Definitely have to visit Vietnam during one of my Asia trips.

[ashish]

inflation
it was $1/bullet in 2001 ;)