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Published: January 31st 2009
Saigon
aka Ho Chi Min City When is the last time you honked the horn in your car? A week ago? A month?
Here in Vietnam, you cannot go one minute on the road without hearing a cacophony of earsplitting horns. The roads are an amazing spectacle of transportation chaos. Motorbikes outnumber cars twenty to one. There seem to be millions of them. They fly through the streets at breakneck speeds at mere inches from each other, unscathed by lack of stoplights. Hence the honking. It’s a defensive driving mechanism to combat the utterly insane amount of vehicles sharing the two lane roads that run like veins throughout the country. Though only a problem in the cities, it still took a while to get used to. Some vehicles even have horns that sound like cheesy arpeggios (imagine the first ring of an awful sounding cell phone). Now picture trying to catch some Z’s on a six hour bus ride through traffic with the first three seconds of that cliché Nokia ring tone blasting through the fog horn of a bus, every ten seconds.
And crossing a busy street in Vietnam? Like signing your own death warrant. Bungee jumping had nothing on the fear
of crossing an intersection in Saigon, through an endless stream of motorbikes destined to be faster than the rider next to them. The game “Frogger” with a twist; its real life! But all that jargon is just a gripe that actually turns out to be quite minor and funny in the grand scheme. Meg and I find it to be a nice little pastime, just sitting at a corner and watching the traffic. Better than any comedy movie ever made. The things these people can fit on a 125 cc motorbike is astounding. A refrigerator tied to the rear seat, the rider balancing in the gusty wind. A giant entertainment center strapped to the front, nearly plowing other riders off the road. A family of six packed on to a two seater! It’s a whole other world out here. And I’m happy to say I’ve seen it first hand.
All traffic related grievances aside, Vietnam is a beautiful and magical place. The range of geography and civilization we’ve seen just in the southern half of the country is incredible. Stunning beaches, gorgeous limestone mountains covered in green, French colonial architecture, and simple fishing villages all account for the
variety of this underestimated wonderland.
* * * *
The starting point for our Vietnam adventure was Saigon, or Ho Chi Min City as its known to the western world. Wow. This place was an absolute assault on the situational awareness lobe of the brain. I don’t think I will ever see a greater concentration of motorbikes battling on two lane city streets, through uncontrolled intersections in my life. Then again, I hear the capital city of Hanoi is pretty awesome too (we’ll be there in about two weeks). Saigon is a great city; it was a perfect starting point for us. Good vibes all around, smiles, and cleanliness that was noticeable given our previous experience in Cambodia. Cambodia seriously lacked infrastructure such as waste removal etc… and massive piles of trash were all too common sights on otherwise nice-looking streets. Also, though prevalent, but to a much lesser degree, are the street hockers in Vietnam. “Hello lady! You buy some-teeng?” “Hello Madame! I discount for you!” is all we heard in Cambodia in the markets; at points it got irritating, but we never let it bother us, just smiles and “no thanks” often did the trick.
Anyhoo, Saigon was a nutty city to be a part of, especially since our visit fell on the Lunar New Year- the most celebrated holiday in Vietnam, when locals take a week or two off to vacation. Great timing, yes. It has been a slight battle so far, but as of now, it is just starting to wane away. “Chuc Mung Nam Moi!” (Happy New Year) signs drape the streets and the air of celebration is present. Not a bad thing at all. Tons of street food vendors serving BBQ skewers of mystery meat and other gastronomic adventures make for fun evenings of just wandering about and seeing what there is to see. Street food. Definitely one of my favorite aspects of this world and lacking in the USA. Oh well, there’s always carnivals. I suppose. Speaking of which, after the long bus ride from Phnom Penh to Saigon, on the way into the city, we drove by a carnival looking fiesta with rides and lights and kids. The silence on the bus was broken by Meg yelling “look a carnival!” She was most likely unaware of her volume control due to ipod headphones in the ear. She does
that. We got some funny looks and a good laugh out of that one.
Before I forget, I have to tell this one… On our way out to dinner the other night, we were walking on the sidewalks toward a restaurant we spotted earlier. We dressed up semi-decent, wearing our one nice outfit of the trip. Many people out for the hustle and bustle of the main street here in Nha Trang. A bus full of tourists all gaze in our direction. Then I hear it. Meg’s sandal fails to grip the angled curb and I see it in slow motion. She goes down to the ground. Hard. I try to reach out and save her but its too late. On her way down, she reaches for something- anything to break her fall. What she grabbed was a precariously balanced rack of jewelry, balanced atop two bricks. Oops. The whole rack comes crashing down, necklaces and earrings fly into the street and she rolls out of a cloud of dust. Wide eyes on the bus are pressed against the windows. The shop owner had the look of sheer disappointment. Not angry, just disappointed. We dumbfoundedly tried to collect
all the pieces strewn about the street and sidewalk. Eventually she shooed us away and we walked off with our tails between our legs. Ahh Hurricane Meg strikes again.
Back to Saigon… We booked a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels. About an hour outside the city is a network of Viet Cong tunnels, used in the American War. Yes, here they call it the “American War.” This a was a once in a lifetime experience. It was a real hands on history lesson. They let us crawl through real tunnels used by the infantry and villagers alike during the war. One hundred and twenty meters through pitch black winding tunnels is quite an experience. The tunnels alone might be the reason we lost the war. The ingenuity that went into constructing these things was incredible. They had whole cities underground: hospitals, munitions factories, barracks, everything made out of pure resourcefulness and necessity. Their knowledge of their own land gave American infantry such a huge disadvantage, it must have been like shooting fish in a barrel in those jungles. The feel of that place was very creepy. Even live machine gun fire rattled in the distance and echoed
through the trees, adding to the surreal ambience of this once war torn place. Oh ya, and we stopped by the shooting range and I fired off 50 rounds through a fully automatic M60 machine gun. That got the blood flowing alright. After returning to town, we hired a “cyclo” to take us around the city to see the sights. These are great. A tricycle with a full on seat built into the front; perfect for a front row seat to the Saigon traffic madness.
We could feel the holiday crowds intensifying, so we grabbed a bus to a little beach town called Mui Ne. A strip of resorts and bungalows dotted a stretch of beach with a seemingly endless gust of wind ripping across it. Great for laying out and not really feeling the sun torch your skin. And great for watching the droves of kite surfing students tearing up the surf. We visited the main attraction, the sand dunes, and had an epic sand sled race. I toppled off mine halfway down and Meg zipped by blowing dust in my face. New years eve (Jan 26th) we grabbed a taxi into town and celebrated the coming
of “the year of the ox” with the locals. Many families and lights and a carnival atmosphere added to the fun… Time to move on…
Next stop, Da Lat. A winding mountain incline road brought us to this beautiful town. It looked like the neighborhoods of San Francisco, crammed with French colonial architecture style high in the mountains. The air was clean, cool, and crisp. A massive central market boasted the usual extravaganza of street food, clothes, and art like paintings and wood crafts. For our full day there, we hired a crew of two motorcycle guides, know as the “Easy Riders.” Our drivers, Peter and Tony, cruised us around the highlands and to the outskirts of the city, showing us some great sights and terrain throughout the area. Just being on the back of the motorcycle with the cool wind blowing, gave us that ultimate feeling of freedom and adventure. It was truly a perfect experience. Peter went out of his way to show us a good time and tell us everything he knew about his home country. He was a super funny guy, nicknamed the “O.G. gangsta.” We had a blast with him and wish we
could’ve spent some more time with him. One of those memorable characters that just add to the overall great experience.
Add to the lists of first: SCUBA diving!! Here in the beach mecca of Nha Trang, we booked a supposed snorkel adventure to the near by islands with a local dive company. They ended having a “try dive” for twenty bucks more. Awesome. Thirty minutes of one on one professional in water instruction. A quick run down of the basics and we stepped off the boat, tank on back, breather in mouth. Both Meg and I made it to six meters by ourselves! It’s a crazy feeling being down there with fish, floating evenly at a certain depth. We were naturals; our instructor said usually he doesn’t let the students go off on their own but our confidence was unmatched and a few underwater “okay” signs let him know we were good. A half hour wasn’t enough down there. We are seriously considering getting certified here because its so cheap, then we can dive anywhere in the world. Considering our future destinations: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia- world class dive spots, it might behoove us to get it now…
That’s enough!!! Next stop Hoi An. After an eleven hour overnight sleeper bus. Wish us luck on that one.
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
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Mom
non-member comment
Happy New Year
OMG! sorry Meg, but I had to laugh at Jake's story of the curb falling episode - totally something I would do. Just reading about the tunnels gave me the same eerie feeling. Kind of a dejavu for Iraq and Afganistan. Will we ever learn? Are you eating the srteet vendor stuff? Sounds magical. Have fun and enjoy every minute. Love you guys...