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Published: October 7th 2007
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singapore skyline
making the most of a 24 hr stop-over Hello to all interested and sundry parties and welcome to my inaugral travel blog on Vietnam! I am a new blogger as of tonight, so please bear with me as I recount some of the scetchier details (is that a word?) of the past 8 hazy days....
Ho Chi Mihn City, also called Saigon (officially changed about 30 yrs ago if my brief vietnamese history lesson serves me correctly?) was hectic. From the moment I stepped off the plane into the heavy humidity of early evening it was utter chaos. The driver for Intrepid who picked me up (thats the first time in a while...) spoke little English, and so began a sequence of gestures, smiles, and pigeon Vietnamese (mine) as we headed towards the Empress hotel. When I say chaos I mean drivers of all sized vessels, little 50cc mopeds, bigger gruntier motorbikes, 4wd's, saloons all vying for space on the congested narrow, rubbish and spit-laden streets. The women mainly wear masks of fabric or surgical origin. If a westerner wears one it is seen as worth a good laugh, but I don't care as I am happy to play the clown sometimes. They do it to keep their
cu chi tunnels
squeezing in to cu chi tunnel skin white, and I guess secondly to stop the gases causing a high incidence of lung disease (so I am told by our local Intrepid guide Bon, who so far has been a real 'bon bon'!). A city of unofficially 6 million people, I am certain that spending a day on the streets of Saigon allowed me to meet all 5, 999, 999 of them.
karyn, when we left saigon I saw that AC Neilsen had an office so took photo for you as a momento!
Back to Saigon....and supposedly my outcome measure based single case group study of the 12 Intrepid strangers (see past emails), in honour of my dismal post grad grade this past semester. The Reunification palace was pretty interesting - 1960s architecture and quite old fashioned as expected for that era but held lots of stories of the times past when Vietnam was at war with basically everyone/ their territory was contested. I cannot shed more light on that as my history knowledge is hopeless. Plus the heat shrinks the brain, so i have since discovered (I wish it would have the same effect on my pack size and weight), in my loss of
to market to market
selling their perishable wares on the street a precious items on this journey...my torch! Must get a new one... The city hall was a fine example of gothic architecture and the war remnants museaum a wrenching example of the atrocities that occurred. There are many amputees and disabled I have noticed (or is that just the physio in me?). What surprises me the most is how they negotiate footpaths and kerbs that are almost a foot high, non-existent, or so rickety even grandma couldn't be lead by grandson from the poverty of their front porch come shop('you buy you buy, please') to the outhouse with squat loo and non paper, just a clay floor for comfort. The irony os poor and wealthy is difficult to digest here. On a similar note, my American room-mate got groped by a taxi driver who demanded almost equivalent $60 USD for a 2km trip from the Rex hotel to the Empress (our home) and hence has become extremely security conscious since. On a high note, I managed to navigate my way down to the park with the druggies by the 3rd day after 2 days of getting lost. That was my greatest achievement apart from crossing the road with 1000 motorbikes coming towards me at full throttle and NOT getting hit, then facing 1000 in the opposite direction as you enter the other side of the road. And all the Saigon-ese appear to do it with a steely look of 'nothing bothers me' on their faces, whilst the westerner trembles in fear at the lack of regulations and rules.
Anyhow, the Mekong was next.....(see next blog fro brief summary as I hate repeating myself through email, and I am sure you will not want to hear it twice!!)
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