Delta Dawn - Saigon, Vietnam

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Once my Visa became valid to enter Vietnam I made a beeline for the border at the Ha Tien border crossing. The journey was about an hour and a half away from Kampot and cost me $7 for the pleasure. Once at the border the immigration was painless as my Visa was already in my passport. Stamp out, stamp in - easy. So in Ha Tien I had to make a decision of where to go next. I wanted to spend a couple of days in the Mekong Delta (the fertile plain of numerous islands, rice fields, and waterways before the mighty river spills into the South China Sea) and decided to hop another bus bound for Can Tho ($10). This journey took about six hours. Slow going here in The Nam. In Can Tho I would get my first taste of the rural and farming society that is the Mekong Delta. Welcome to Vietnam.

Showing up in Can Tho the bus dropped me off in the city centre. Shunning the mototaxi mafia I went walking off into the city without a clue. Luckily for me a friendly tout offered to take me for free to a guesthouse near the docks where I would be able to charter a boat to visit the legendary floating markets - which was the reason I had come here. The guesthouse was good and for $100,000 Vietnamese Dong ($5) who am I to complain? The next morning I was up at 4:30am for a 5am departure to visit the floating markets of Can Tho. In a rickety canoe like boat, with the friendliest boat lady ever driving, myself and a French couple puttered up the Can Tho river until we reached the Cai Rang Market. Once we arrived I was assaulted with sights, sounds, smells, and people everywhere. It was a fascinating sight. The whole economy of the area and all commerce takes places on the rivers of The Delta and I was in the thick of it. Women were shouting prices selling meats, fruits, and vegetables. People were buying and selling all sort of goods from boat to boat. It's like nothing I have ever seen.

I've been to some of the most remote and poor places on the planet and the lifestyle of not having a grocery store a drive away that can sustain the needs of your family is so very different from my culture back home. These people have to come here daily to purchase and trade food in order to feed their families and live their lives. I can only imagine that it must be very difficult to live this way as I've never had to, but when it is all that you know and all that generations have known, maybe it is difficult for them to imagine how can I live the way I do back home. Thoughts like these were rife in my head as I soaked in every drop of the organized chaos around me. Most impressive to me were the old ladies in the stand up row boats selling their wares. The strength, balance, and stamina needed to navigate the river on these vessels that have not changed in thousands of years is nothing short of incredible.

Truly a thrilling and exceptionally unique experience for me and a great introduction into Vietnam. Wanting to gain further encounters of this rural life here in the Delta I packed my bags and headed a little ways North via minibus to the town of Vinh Long where I hoped to secure a homestay. When I purchased my ticket to Vinh Long ($60,000VND - $3USD) for the one hour ride on the minibus I was assured that I would be dropped at the bus terminal in the city centre. The minibus driver took it upon himself to drop me at the terminal 4km outside of town. Despite my protests, he refused to go any further. A stand off ensued with me content to go all the way to Saigon. The driver then took my bag out from the back of the bus and drove 50 feet away to the exit. What could I do? I got out and he took off. Bitter and shunning the mototaxi mafia that had encircled me I walked the 4km into the city centre.

Once in the centre I needed to find the bus terminal that I was supposed to be dropped at. This would be my best start to get some information on a homestay. Without a map or a clue, I was pretty much shooting in the dark which has been the story of my life for the past 14 months. Seeing some city buses on the streets I basically followed their general direction and found the terminal. My skills remain sharp. Here a tout suggested that I take the ferry to An Binh Island where many homestays would be available. Offering to take me to the ferry terminal for a small fee I shooed him away but thanked him for the information. I walked to the riverside and chose to go left upstream (lucky, lucky) where I found the ferry for the ride to An Binh Island for $1,000VND - $0.05. My skills remain sharp. I did find a homestay for $200,000VND ($10) which would include dinner and breakfast. When I think homestay, I think of staying with a family like I did with my friend Amis and her family in Indonesia on Java. This was nothing like that. The "homestay" was basically a very nice guesthouse in the rural countryside of An Binh Island. I never met or spoke to anyone in the family. It was a nice spot and very relaxing (I was the only one there), but I kept wondering why I was even here and if it was worth all the effort to get here. I made the decision to stay one night and bail the next day North to Saigon.

Frustrating for me was again the only option for transport was the dreaded minibus. I knew this would be a problem. When entering any major city the minibus never goes to the bus terminal where it is easy to get onto a local bus to take you to your destination in the city. They instead opt to drop you of at the companies' office away from the city center. This case was no different so when I showed up I again had to push the mototaxi mafia aside and I just walked off into the unknown in a city of 8 million people. Always the best policy. Whilst walking along I saw a bus stop with a map. Trying to figure out where I was proved impossible as everything is written in Vietnamese. A local seeing my dilemma pointed out the number of bus I needed to hail in order to arrive in the Pham Ngu Lao area of the city where I wanted to stay. 30 minutes later and $10,000VND ($0.50) lighter I had arrived. My skills remain sharp. I sorted an excellent guesthouse out ($160,000VND) and set off on foot to explore this exotic metropolis.

Saigon is the Asia you always dream of. Chaotic, noisy, crowded, and oh so delicious. The food is amazing, the people are fascinating, and around every corner or crooked alleyway their is something new to explore and discover. Never before have I been in a city with so many motobikes. Crossing the street in Saigon is the stuff of legend. You have to step out into a swarm of motos and slowly, confidently walk straight ahead and the masses begin to part around you like the Red Sea. Takes a little getting used to but is fun - if not sketchy - nonetheless. I have epic video. I could wander these streets and watch its people for hours on end never tiring for a moment. The place is abuzz with energy.

I spent a day touring the War Remnants Museum here in Saigon, and as the name suggests it is a museum documenting the Vietnam War. The museum was very well put together but being in Ho Chi Minh City, the facts and details are certainly one sided. However all of the photographs portraying the gruesome losses and the commentary detailing the horrific events suffered by both sides does not make for an easy walk through during the afternoon. Particularly disturbing was the section on Agent Orange and the effects dioxin has had on the population here as well as at home in the form of disease and birth defects. As much as I detest war and violence, it is still important for me to come to places like this whilst abroad.

A second stop on this day led me to what is now known as the "Reunification Palace". The grounds used to serve as the capitol headquarters of South Vietnam and was home to the President. That all came crashing down on April 30th, 1975 when the North Vietnamese tanks came smashing through the gates forcing the unconditional surrender of the South and effectively ending the Vietnam War. The place oozes history to say the least. Even more so since the government has left the grounds as they were in 1975. It is a time capsule of sorts and an art deco lovers dream with all of the old school furniture and decor. A super interesting place to wander around and I felt like a foreign dignitary of old whilst strolling the ornate halls of the last beacon of capitalism in 1970s Vietnam.

My final day here in Saigon was spent on a tour of Cu Chi. Cu Chi was a bastion of the Viet Cong who dug, lived, and fought from a vast network of underground tunnels. The Viet Cong were able to escape the bombardment from above by living below in a system that spanned some 250KM. They had built hospitals, schools, and living quarters in the subterranean city and held strong, never being discovered in this place and I'm sure inflicting massive damage while at it. The ingenuity and sheer manpower needed to dig this network is astonishing to think about. It just proves the age old saying that necessity breeds creativity. Without the tunnels the VC would surely have been wiped off of the map with the amount of ordinance and chemicals dropped from above.

I've really enjoyed Saigon and I am hesitant to leave. But as I only have one month in Vietnam I know that I must move North and make some progress onto my final destination of Hanoi. So I'll look at the map and make some plans as I continue the odyssey into the unknown.

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Photos

propoganda
I love the propaganda posters scattered around the city.

nightscene
Capitalism is alive and well in Ho Chi Minh City