The Heat is on in Saigon. For real, though.

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Celebrating one's 30th 3 nights in a row and then embarking upon a ~22 hour journey in the sky is not highly recommended, but hey, you only turn 30 once. Sunday morning I was out of bed by 9 after already oversleeping to frantically throw more things into my mostly-packed suitcases and head to Logan for my 11:55 flight. It was gonna be a doozy - 12 hr 40 min to Dubai, then 7 hr 30 min to Ho Chi Minh City. I was flying Emirates for the first time, so I knew it wouldn't be truly nightmare-ish based on the qualify of the airline, but realistically i spent that first 12 hours drifting in and out of consciousness and turning away drinks from the over-attentive flight attendance. The flight was surprisingly empty and I had an entire row to myself, but no amount of water was enough to hydrate me. I managed to eat the meals that came by- smoked salmon with a dill cream sauce, a mini pizza, and scrambled eggs - all staggered throughout the flight, and also watched two movies - Zoolander 2 and Room - but the entire thing was a blur.

I didn't have too much time at the Dubai airport, just enough to see the Burj Khalifa in the distance and pick up some duty-free treats for the Ho Chi Minh Office, but I had the following 3 weeks to make up for that. Once to the gate I was put in basically a holding area, then bussed for a good half hour to the runway to board plane number two. While still a nice Emirates plane, it was noticeably older, but luckily I had a seat between me and the next person. And what a character she was - essentially a middle-aged Vietnamese gremlin with a shaved head. Between stealing nips of whiskey, curling up into a ball over the two seats next to me, and looking in her bag every 5 seconds, I didn't quite know what to think and just kept to myself. The flight was otherwise uneventful - again we had a few tasty meals, this time more Vietnamese-themed with cod over spicy noodles and chili prawns. I started watching Carol but fell asleep half way though, and about seven hours later I was in Vietnam.

Now, instead of applying for a visa ahead of time, I opted for the visa-on-arrival situation where you basically prep an application form with a picture and request an invitation letter from a random company online. Once at the airport you give them cash, wait a few minutes, and voila you have a visa. A little risky, but my coworker had recently done it and realistically I had no other choice since I found out about Vietnam less than two weeks before departing. It actually did end up working just fine, and within 30 minutes I had both my multiple-entry Vietnamese visa and my luggage in hand. As soon as I stepped outside I saw my name on a card and the Sofitel driver there waiting for me, but not before I erupted like a waterfall of sweat and felt like I was going to die of heatstroke. After 8pm on a Monday it was still 87 degrees with 80% humidity. The highs over the next few days were to be 97-99 and the humidity still around 80%, so I was in for a real treat. Meanwhile my arrival date in Dubai on the 8th still looked to be around 100 and not going down. At least it would be less humid...

Anyway, the Mercedes that picked me up had not only a/c but also wifi, bottled water, and paper towels, so I had at least an immediate release. I had also managed to catch a cold and a cough, so at the insistence of the driver I also got take advantage of those paper towels to blow my nose. For the next 30 minutes we zipped in and out of traffic, most notably avoiding crashing with one of the ever-present scooters for which the city is notorious. But for real, every time you cross the street is a potential brush with death, and there are no rules. By 9pm I was at the hotel and ready to crash/die, but of course I had to wait for them to deliver my bags to the room, and I also had to indulge in a little pastry and juice that the hotel had left as a welcome. I managed to stay up for another couple of hours doing things I should have done prior like notifying my banks I would casually be gone for the next month. By midnight I was fast sleep (read: cold sweats)....but only until 4.

At 4am there wasn't much to do other than work, and since I had been a waste on the life on the plane I thought it best to help my team out and put in a few hours before sunrise. Both the rooftop pool deck and breakfast restaurant opened at 6:30, so at that point I made my way up to see what the deal was. Well, the pool was spectacular - sweeping views of the entire city pretty much 360 degrees around, comfy-looking lounge chairs, clear, cool, water...And best of all, wifi worked, so I had found my office for later in the afternoon. On the way down to breakfast I also checked out the gym and spa, both legit - tons of equipment, clean and spacious, etc. It was after 6:30, but I was still too awkward to go into breakfast, so I lingered in the lobby until I saw a couple go in and followed them. Much like the breakfast spread at the Shanghai Intercontinental this one was spectacular and did not disappoint. Everything under the sun was available, from dim sum and hot bowls of pho to French pastries and has browns. Another temptation to consume 800,000 calories at the start of every morning!

At this point it was 7:30am, so I went back up and worked for an hour or so before I decided to venture out to get both cash and sunscreen. I threw on a tank, awkwardly consulted with the concierge as to where I might find an ATM, and headed outside. During my perhaps 10 minute walk outside I became absolutely drenched, as in my shirt looked like someone had attacked me with a supersoaker. This week was going to be unreal. After hitting up the gym I decided to take things up to the pool where I could at least not be trapped in my hotel room, but even then I had to get in the water every 15 minutes or so to cool down. Meanwhile people on the streets were basically in parkas with facemasks as they zipped around on their scooters. I don't get it.

By noon I was ready to actually get in a couple hours of exploring, and as I was was staying in District 1 along the Saigon River, most of the sites were within a 20 minute or so walking distance. First stop was the Notre Dame Basilica Saigon, or Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn, a French structure erected between 1871 and 1883 from materials imported from France. Designed in the Romanesque style, it has two bell towers that reach 190 feet and a status of the Virgin Mary out front. In the mid-2000s it was reported that the statue was shedding tears, but Vietnamese clergy could not confirm it. Continuing along my way and dodging death at every intersection I came across the Central Post Office, Bưu điện Trung tâm Sài Gòn, another vestige of French occupation built in the late 1800s. It's famous for its large clock tower, two maps of Indochina, and mix of Gothic, French, and Renaissance architecture.

I had shockingly by this point not sweat through all of my clothes, so I thought I'd grab some lunch, preferably indoors, before continuing onward. I had read about a place called Propaganda, a Vietnamese bistro inspired by street foods, and it was just around the corner from where I was which worked out well. The place was very cute and decorated in artwork evoking Communist-era propaganda. I went with a 2-course set lunch for 190,000 dong - yes, their currency is called dong, and yes, it's in hundreds of thousands. I had literally taken out 1 million dong earlier that morning, about $48. For 190K, about $8, I got a Vietnamese iced coffee, Vietnamese wild pepper & green mango salad with BBQ chicken & shallots, and spicy seafood soup with rice noodles. I also tacked on a Saigon export beer. Everything was great - all of the fresh herb and fish-saucey flavors that I love about Vietnamese cuisine. It was also a much appreciated break from the oppressive heat. Fingers crossed the ice in my iced coffee wouldn't give me typhoid later on!

A few blocks further on was the Reunification Place, the residence of Ngo Dinh Nhiem, the president of the former South Vietnamese government in 1954. Prior to this it was site of a much older palace, the residence and offices of the Governors-Central of French Indochina from 1887 to 1945. Nowadays it's a 1960s timewarp and has been largely left untouched since 30 April 1975 when a North Vietnamese Army tank bulldozed through the main gate and ended the Vietnam war. The place was of course open-air, so I continued to sweat, but I found comfort in seeing other Westerners looking absolutely drenched and disgusting. The palace was by no means pretty, but it was historically fascinating and cool to explore. In the area surrounding it there was a replica of the tank that smashed through the gate as well as an F-5E aircraft that had flown over form the north earlier in April of '75 with the intention of bombing the palace. All in all it was worth the 30,000 dong or $1.34 :-)

On my way back to the hotel I stopped for some provisions - a large bottled water, Pepsi light, and some honey-butter potato chips - before grabbing an iced coffee at Coffee Beans & Tea Leaf. Turns out this is a California-based chain and not actually Vietnamese, but oh well, the coffee was good and strong. The rest of the afternoon was spent working as I waited for my two colleagues to fly in from Bangkok - not a bad day!

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Photos

Ho Chi Minh City Skyline
View from the rooftop pool circa 6:30am

Sofitel breakfast buffet
Another buffet to overindulge in...nothing like hot pho for breakfast!

Ominous Communist Advertisements
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