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Published: August 22nd 2006
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A very long uncomfortable bus journey and we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, (I prefer its original name.. Saigon). Some good scenery on the way similar to what I expected from films that I've seen. We had a few river crossings on the way where we had to get off the bus and rush onto a ferry like lunatics trying to get past the many motorbikes! Loads of people and vehicles all crammed on. After an 8 or 9 hour journey we arrived in Saigon.. comfy bed and air con... perfect. Headed to the market for a quick look and discovered that the most difficult thing was crossing the road! The traffic doesn't stop here, even if there is a pedestrian crossing. It just keeps going and swerves past the pedestrians as they try to cross the road. Even at crossroads and junctions all of the traffic just keeps going and weaves in and out of each other. Madness. It was pretty scary at first but you just have to go for it and keep walking until you get to the other side. The traffic will go around you. I've never seen so many motorbikes in my life.. they are
Motorbikes
Queue for the ferry! everywhere. Whole families on one bike! The most I saw was a family of 6 people on one small motorbike.. Unbelievable!
Later on we went for a Cyclo tour of Saigon. Its a great way to see the city as you just have to sit there whilst this guy pedals you around. Its basically like a small bench seat with a bike attached to the back. Again a little scary amongst all the traffic but you soon get used to it, even if you do have a few near misses with buses! Saigon has some really nice areas with plenty of French colonial buildings... A South East Asian French feel. Bonjour.. Ca va?
After a tour around the central area with a Vietnamese guide and after hearing a bit about the war with the USA and some stuff about Uncle Ho, (Ho Chi Min), we headed to a restaurant for a final meal with some of the people we were with. Now... whilst I like to try the local food its also very important to sample the pizza wherever possible! And the pizza here was really really good. Two thumbs up on the Pete scale. It came with
Cyclo's in Saigon
Pedal faster please a bowl of chili oil on top for extra flavouring.. Nice! Pretty Perfect I would say. I love Pizza especially when its good pizza. Its amazing to say the least. We said our goodbyes to the peeps who would be leaving and gave Charlie a nice tip. Fiona, Brooke, Steve and Me would be continuing on in Vietnam heading up north, (all the best people). Perfect Strawberries forever. Safe as houses, (and Mush).
The next day we decided to explore Saigon some more, checkin out what was going down on the streets. More fun crossing roads, good ice cream at Fanny's, a trip to the top floor of the Rex hotel for some cocktails and some sweet tasting street snacks on the way, (needed a sugar rush!). In the afternoon we got on the back of a motorbike, (there are loads of motorbike men around offering lifts in exchange for some Dong), and went to the War Remnants museum. An interesting place... slightly biased. Some great powerful photos from the war and lots of disturbing ones. The museum also showed the aftermath of agent orange, the nickname given to a herbicide used by the U.S during the Vietnam war.
Bad stuff! There were also some cool tanks and stuff outside.. Our driver's waited for us so we hopped back on and went back into town. I went for a foot massage which was good. When I went in my feet were hurting when I came out they weren't... Just like magic! In the evening we met some more peeps who would be coming through Vietnam with us. Kenji, (Japanese guy who I shared a room with who only speaks a few English words), some peeps from Canada, Wales, Oz and a girl from the USA, (nice voice). Oh yeah and captain John Kirk. Its a good job I can speak Japanese... Konichi Wa.. Watishi Wa... Peter... Desu?? Something like that anyway. We had a Japanese day at school once. Anyway... we headed to dinner for some DIY rice paper rolls filled with various stuff, then on to an ice cream place. More tasty food!
The following day we headed off to see the Chu Chi tunnels where the Viet Cong hid from the Americans during the war. The network of tunnels which must have taken forever to dig were used to connect villages and towns and stretched right
Reunification Palace
Something is going off here! the way back to Saigon from Chu Chi. Some people lived down in these tunnels for 10 years! We went down in some of these tunnels with a torch and climbed through a section of them. I didn't think I was claustrophobic but felt it down here! It was really cramped and was extremely hot... I was sweating buckets! Every so often the tunnels went down to lower levels and there were these thin bits to get through. These were designed to stop fat Americans and let the thin Asians through! It was pretty impressive how the entrance to these were disguised and we were given a demonstration of this and some painful looking booby traps from the local guide. Around the area of Chu Chi there are lots of craters where American B-52 bombers have hit, and there's an old American tank that had become stuck, (the Cong were pretty proud of this I think).
I was then given the chance to fire some guns here for a reasonable amount of Ding Dong so I said "why not". I'm not the biggest fan of guns but thought it would be good to have a go. I was given
Me entering a tunnel at Chu Chi
(Wearing a lovely Viet Cong hat) a long list of guns to have a go on. I picked an AK47 which I had heard of and an M60 machine gun. I purchased the ammo from the counter and headed to this field with some targets in the distance. I asked the bloke for some ear plugs.. he said no I didn't need them. They were both extremely powerful, loud and pretty scary but the machine gun was something else. Ridiculous in fact. I can't imagine what it must have been like in a war zone firing one of these things or even worse having it fired at you! I think the guy was wrong... I needed earplugs... It was so loud! I felt a bit like the terminator. It was pretty mental. Fun though. My ears were ringing after. Good shit.
After eating some tree roots dipped in crushed nuts, (I don't do nuts), and drinking some rice wine with pickled snakes and scorpions, (bad after taste) we headed back to Saigon via a rubber plantation. We went to this place for dinner which from the outside appeared to be the entrance to a car garage but inside it opened up into a massive restaurant.
There was some interesting stuff on the menu... "Braised beefs Pissle", "Braised pigs brain", "Braised chickens testicles", "sauted horses sex organ", "Stuffed fish's bladder with raw pigs thigh" and my favourite " 4 kinds of object in hot pot"... I think this must of been a lucky dip type thing. I was tempted to get it to see what objects I would get but eventually decided not to go for any of these but instead had a selection of other Vietnamese food and some great sea food. The stuffed crab with cheese was probably my favourite. Great car garage restaurant and no sign of Gary or Minty anywhere! All the food I've have had so far has been amazing. I hope it continues this way! Any hoo... that's all for Uncle Ho's City. Next stop Hoi An. So goodbye Saigon. Goodbye mental traffic. Over and Out. PPTD. Play Safe. Watch out for the one eyed policeman!
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