Out of the Jungles of Hoi An and into the buzzing metropolis of Ho Chi Mihn City. What's that? Never heard of it? Perhaps, Saigon rings a bell then. That's right, after the Vietnamese drove the Americans out and united the country, the name was changed to reflect their leader and hero, Ho Chi Mihn, or Uncle Ho as he is affectionately known and depicted.
Having wandered a bit, it was easy to see that Saigon was far bigger and more developed than Hanoi. Even now, it was easy to see just where the French-American stronghold was in the country. Downtown boasts many tall buildings with various western corporations taking up seats in them. The main streets are wide, well lit and lined with various shops selling everything from western apparel to touristy souvenirs.
The seedier backpacker ghetto is well developed for the young and sandalled. Translation,everything was more expensive. Once again, I rented a scooter and went out into the craziness that was Vietnamese street driving.
As if there wasn't enough traffic on the roadways, they have a tradition where every Sunday evening EVERYONE goes out on their motorbike/scooter and goes cruising around the downtown area. This is a viable activity for the evening and entails doing nothing but riding around, inhaling copious amounts of fumes and talking to friends. Once more I took a deep breath (though this smog was making them less deep!) and headed out into the insanity.
Riding to the outer districts of the city also gave me a good sight of how "the other half" lives. These areas were more reminiscent of Hanoi. Families sitting around on the floor in their open houses, enjoying a meal together or going at it on the ole Karaoke! It was great to see that Saigon was more than just the mammoth structures and proganda relics of the downtown districts. Though, there is nothing quite like seeing the hammer and sickle flags hanging across the street from the Hilton.
The last days in Saigon brought a pleasant surprise in that I'd found myself a travel partner. R. had been on a similar trip to mine but seemed to have more ideas as to what he wanted to see. Despite his planning, we had similar styles of travel and one of the merits of being solo is that you can have no plans, no pressure and set off into any which direction the wind blows you. This time, the wind was to blow me south and west to follow the famous Mekong river to the delta and into Cambodia.
I knew little of the route or area but my new travel buddy had it all figured out, sort of. So off we set on a journey that would take us by taxi, motorcycle, bicycle, bus and boat to new adventures in Vietnam and Cambodia!
Stories to follow.
More fotki @ dimakay.fotki.com
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