Advertisement
Published: July 24th 2008
We found these names to be interchangeable, as we see both written everywhere. The bus ride from Phnom Penh was pretty painless, and it of course dropped us right in the middle of the land of backpackers in district 1. I sat with an iced coffee in air con, watching the bags, while Mike followed a friendly lady to look at some rooms. We got a very clean fan room with hot water for $8 a night...not bad (we upgraded to a/c after the mekong tour). Our hotel is behind the main street through a maze of alleys, and its really just a building that is wide enough for one room on each floor (like so many buildings here), with a family living on the first floor. When we got back from the Mekong, the family seemed to have gone away and left their daughter of 13 or so to handle things--she has been all smiles since they left, presumably enjoying a lot more quiet and a lot more personal space.
And so we began a good couple of days of doing what is most popular here: eating and drinking coffee. We mixed that up with a lot of walking
through the city, which at first seemed much cooler in temperature and much cheaper than Cambodia. After a few days, the air seemed warmer and the food not so cheap, but still super tasty. We have had countless bowls of steaming pho, eggplant and spinach cooked in garlic, spring rolls, and some interesting mung bean desserts. There was also the splurge on a delicious sushi dinner. We met up with Yale and Cassie too, our friends we met on the Mekong Delta trip, for a night of dinner and card playing. We ate at this great restaurant - the name eludes me now, but we knew it was going to be good when we saw a huge line of locals lining up to get in.
We checked out one of the main stops on the circut, the War Remnants Museum, called the American War Crimes Museum until quite recently. While some tourists we have met felt the whole display was quite anti-american, there was no denying that we did in fact bomb the hell out of the country, we did drop agent orange, and we did use napalm. The photos were pretty horrific and many kids are still born
with major birth defects here from the lingering effects of dioxin in the environment (from the agent orange). The more I read about the American War, the more it seems were are repeating history in Iraq.
We also hit up the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden, a nice respite from the continual traffic and noise of the city. The animal enclosures were depressing and not too safe; if we had been stupid enough, we could have reached right into the lion cages and touched them. The highlight for us was the hippos. A giant one opened his mouth wide, snapped it shut, rolled over creating a big wave, and stood out of the water, posing like a statue.
This city really is all about the night time (I think its because everyone is drinking iced coffees all day), and even at midnight you have to dodge the thick motorbike traffic and you can find food at all hours. Even the roosters stay up late--one night on the way back to our hotel I watched a rooster chase away a giant rat. Pretty funny sight.
On one of our last days here, we took a half day tour
to the Cu Chi Tunnels; interesting and terrifying at the same time. I think everyone has a good idea of what went on down below, so I won't go into detail and let the photos do their thing.
Unfortunately, a few days before we were set to head on to Mui Ne on the coast, I (bb) came down with a nasty flu and ended up in bed for four days with no appetite and a fever. But after a doctor visit and some drugs, I am on the road to recovery and we have finally left HCMC!!
bb & ms
Advertisement
Tot: 0.111s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0421s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
