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Published: March 11th 2017
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The bus from Rach Gia to Saigon was a sleeper bus. I've only seen these in Vietnam, although no doubt they occur everywhere. Instead of seats the bus is fitted with a double level of reclining "beds", like a bus filled with bunk-beds. I had taken one of these last time I was in Vietnam, and I disliked them just as much now as I did then. Especially because this ride was during the day and not the night. The beds aren't the best fit for any Westerner over five and a half feet tall. I couldn't lie down full-length because then my head was hanging off the back of the bed (which would not be comfortable for the six hours to Saigon!), but I couldn't sit up properly either because there was no back-rest and the upper level of beds was where my head would be. I could either lean-sit sideways using the window to rest against, or lie down with my legs folded up. Not the best journey.
The ride terminated at the Mien Tay bus station. As always you are accosted by taxi- and motorbike-drivers as you disembark. The taxis wanted 200,000 Dong (almost NZ$13) to the
backpacker/tourist area at Pham Ngu Lao street, and the motorbikes wanted 100,000. I wanted a bus. Of course there "is no bus", although one driver inadvertently let slip that there is a bus "but not for two hours, so better to take a taxi". I walked off to find the ticket office, and was told the #2 bus goes to Pham Ngu Lao. I walked all the way back across the station - the #2 bus actually left directly next to where my bus had dropped everyone off! They seem to leave every five minutes, which is good, and only cost 5000 Dong (thirty cents).
Between and around the streets of Pham Ngu Lao and De Tham there is a maze of narrow alleyways, packed with guesthouses and eateries and massage-parlours. The accommodation prices are not as cheap as one might expect. Which is not to say they are expensive, but for a backpacker area they are more expensive than they should be. I think this is a consequence of
being a famous backpacker area. Like with Khao San Road in Bangkok - the prices for guesthouses there are higher than in surrounding streets just because they can be.
People stay there because of the reputation, and I guess a lot of the travellers are fresh-off-the-plane and don't know any better. The range around Pham Ngu Lao is around US$10 to US$30 for a room. I don't know why everyone quotes in US Dollars because they only accept payment in Vietnamese Dong - perhaps it is easier to get a higher price because it sounds cheaper saying "ten dollars" than "220,000 Dong". I was keen on finding a cheaper room because I would be staying in national parks quite a bit while in Vietnam, and the accommodation inside the parks is always higher than usual. I don't mind so much paying more when in a park because it allows me more freedom, especially for spotlighting - but it means I need to try and save more during the times when I'm not in parks. Anyway, I spent an hour wandering through all the alleyways and finally found a room for 160,000 Dong at the Nhu Guesthouse (that's about US$7).
The next day was a zoo day. The Saigon Zoo is only a few kilometres from Pham Ngu Lao, and there are several bus routes which run along Nguyen
Thi Minh Kai past the zoo gates. Handily, there is a bus station for the city buses right at Pham Ngu Lao, about three minutes walk from my guesthouse and the bus only costs 6000 Dong (about 40 NZ cents). The zoo itself only costs 50,000 Dong (NZ$3 - in contrast to the Vinpearl Safari on Phu Quoc Island which has an entry fee of 500,000 Dong!). There are several entry gates to the zoo; I came in through gate number three which is next to the Reptile House.
I'd read some very different opinions on the Saigon Zoo, from horrendous to good. It turned out to be a bit of both. The zoo is set in a botanic garden so it is very pleasant to walk around. There were some good enclosures which would look at home in a western zoo but there were also a lot of terrible cages, the worst of the lot being a chimp in a glass box which almost made me walk out of the zoo on the spot. In complete contrast was a large tree-covered island for a pair of buff-cheeked gibbons. The Small Mammals were a mix of good and bad;
the large Carnivores were mostly bad; the primates were mostly okay apart for the apes which were terrible; the hooved stock were the best off of all the mammals. Birds and reptiles were mostly good.
I don't really know how to rate the Saigon Zoo. I don't know if I'd even recommend people to visit it. There are good parts, but they are quite out-weighed by the great apes and some other examples like the sun bears and Big Cats. It seems like the zoo is trying to bring the standards of the zoo up, by replacing bars with glass for example, and placing planted areas within some of the cages for the security of the animals. And there are very good enclosures there too, like the gibbon island. But I wouldn't count it amongst the better zoos in Asia - although by the same token it is certainly not amongst the worst.
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