"Same Same"- the end of our Vietnamese adventure

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We noticed t-shirts with the words "same same" at almost every store when we first arrived in Hanoi. The longer you stay in Vietnam, the more this phrase rings true. While parts of the country are incredibly beautiful- there really isn't a lot of diversity from one city to the next. Every restaurant has the same menu, every store has the same things for sale, and the street vendors and taxi drivers lurking around every corner all have the same sales pitch.

After three days of relaxing on the beach in Nha Trang, we took the overnight train to Saigon (otherwise known as Ho Chi Minh City). We'd heard that Saigon was completely different from everywhere else in Vietnam and that there was more of a Buddhist influence there. We were looking forward to the change.

We booked an overnight train again. The night trains are so much better than day trains or busses because you don't feel like you lose any time. Generally you board the train at around 10 or 11pm at night and when you wake up the next morning, you're at your destination. We were told that the train would arrive at 6am so we were a bit surprised when they woke us up unexpectedly at 5am and told us to get off the train.

We were tired and very grumpy but somehow managed to navigate our way to the hotel that we booked online. Just as the site promised, the hotel was right in the middle of "backpacker land." For some reason we thought that sounded like a positive thing when we read it online. It definitely was not a good thing. The hotel was closed up and there were metal bars on the door so we were left to wait on the street. There were drug deals going on, prostitutes looking for business, and people walking around with multiple beers in their hands. There were small children selling things and sitting on closed storefront stoops. We found an open bar and sat clutching our bags in a groggy stupor.

At 7am our hotel opened but the boy at the front desk didn't speak any English. He called someone who told us over the phone that our room wasn't ready yet and we should come back in an hour. We decided to go back to our seedy bar for a breakfast of chocolate pancakes. At 8am we went back to the hotel and were told that our room would be ready at 12pm. We were too exhausted to even get mad. We told them we'd find another hotel and walked up the street with all of our luggage. We ended up finding hotel a few doors down and slept for most of the morning.

Unfortunately, I can't say that Saigon was very different from the rest of Vietnam. There's some beautiful architecture, some interesting markets, and some great restaurants... and we had a lot of fun at the bar that night... but I think we had become a little bit bored of the 'same sameness' of the culture. We were ready for something new.

So, after two crazy, amazing weeks in Vietnam, we packed our bags and got on a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

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Photos

Nha Trang resort
Swanky resort where we paid to use the lounge chairs for the day.

Street hair cuts
Get your hair cut or face shaved on the street in Nha Trang.

Traffic in Saigon
Some of the craziest traffic I have ever seen in my life.