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Published: December 10th 2008
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Saigon
The sign. Upon arriving in Saigon:
STEPH: Did you see that sign that said you can't ride your bike with seals on the back?
ME: What?
STEPH: The sign that has a bicycle with a seal on the back and a big "X" through it...
ME: What are you smoking?
The next day, walking through Saigon:
STEPH: Look, there's the sign!
ME: You mean the picture of a cyclo with an "X" through it?
Stephanie and I have had some epic miscommunications this trip, and this was pretty funny. There are certain streets in Saigon where cyclos are not allowed (the government is trying to phase them out) and we happened to be walking down one. Saigon (officially called Ho Chi Minh City) is full of tall skinny buildings, motos, and noise. Horns here, like most of Asia, appear to be used instead of blinkers and brakes. Traffic is nuts in Saigon, with red lights mostly just warning people that there may be people cutting across this intersection and the horn should be used. If you've seen "Little Miss Sunshine" and remember the part when the van's horn breaks, that's pretty much what Saigon is like. But all
of their horns are broken.
A lot of the activities in Saigon have to do with the war. The American War. It's not called the Vietnam War over here (I think for fairly obvious reasons). We went to the Reunification Palace which has basically not changed since the Americans got there and took over in 1975. After the Reunification Palace we went to the War Remnants Museum which was... a zoo. Apparently we decided to visit on the same day as 1293048235092 (very rude) Vietnamese school children (mind you, this was a Sunday) and it was a mad house. We basically went where we were pushed. The museum is NOT for the faint of heart. It clearly shows all of the horrible things that were inflicted upon the Vietnamese people during the war. The pictures of the lingering effects of Agent Orange are absolutely horrifying. I was going to post some of the pictures I took on this blog but thought it might deter some of you from ever reading anything I write in the future.
The next day Steph and I decided to go to the Cu Chi tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the war.
Saigon
Steph in a cyclo. I didn't like them, I felt like I was in a stroller. Or maybe like I was a seal in a stroller... There's a vast network of these tunnels and rooms in the area West of Saigon and it allowed the Viet Cong to reign terror on the American soldiers who would unwittingly set up their camp over their tunnels. It honestly is more of a tourist trap than any sort of actual museum. It took us two hours on the backs of motos to get there ("One hour, one hour fifteen maximum." Ha.) and we were pretty unenthused after that. You have to walk around with a tour guide, and ours was incredibly bored and uninterested in his job. We skipped at least half of the displays (more like attractions with the animatronics) and were aimed at the shooting range, where for $15 you get to shoot ten bullets out of a machine gun. We skipped this one. Anyway, the "highlight" of the tour is when you get to crawl through a tunnel yourself. The tunnel that they let you crawl through is 40 meters long and has been "enlarged for European and American tourists." Not surprisingly, the tunnel is still tiny. The Viet Cong must have been the size of a 3 year old if they moved quickly in these
Saigon
Reunification Palace tunnels. Stephanie was behind me on her hands and knees and freaked out a little ("This is NOT funny.") and my quads hurt squat-walking through.
While in Saigon we met up with Anthony, who Stephanie and I went to school with kindergarten through high school. He and his girlfriend have been living in Saigon and teaching English for the last six months. They introduced us to "beer hoi" which is basically cheaper than, well, just about anything. Beer hoi is a general term, but the place we went to had some seats outside next to the street and you get a liter of beer for 10,000 Vietnamese Dong. This works out to about 58 cents. Do the math. I wouldn't say it's the best beer that I've ever had, but if you add ice (like the Vietnamese love to do) it's not so bad. At least not any worse than, say, Natty Ice. To end our stay we rented a moto and rode Saigon style. As long as you follow the same rules as everyone else, it's fine. As near as I can tell the rules are as follows:
1) Anyone you can see without turning your head
Saigon
Fires here look exciting. has the right-of-way.
2) Honk all the time.
3) Start moving when the light turns green, even if you're 100 meters back behing 20394823 other scooters.
4) Honk some more.
5) Use the sidewalk if it gets you there quicker.
6) Wear a helmet. Except if you're a kid under the age of 5. Then you get a mesh bag they put over your head, either to keep bugs out of your face (the common theory), or so they can find all of your parts when you crash (my theory). Apparently the Vietnamese believe that if a moto crashes with a kid on it, the kid will suffer more head damage WITH a helmet on. One of many quirks over here.
7) Honk even more for good measure.
So, as long as you follow those rules, you are good to go. Sweet!
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