I finally arrived home this afternoon after flying from Saigon – Hanoi – Paris – Birmingham. As I write this I’m enjoying a wonderful cup of Vietnamese filter coffee which I couldn't resist bringing back with me and looking back at my two weeks in Vietnam with a big smile on my face, trying to decide if I should go back this year or leave it until next year.
I arrived in Saigon (HCMC) at around 7pm on New Years Eve. After completing the immigration formalities, I had to navigate my way through the hoards of Taxi touts to get a decent metered taxi. The airport is identical to NAIA, it must have been built or designed by the same architects, and the taxi drivers are just as ruthless as their Filipino neighbours. Fortunately I’d read in my Lonely Planet guidebook to only use Mai Linh or Vinasun taxi’s as they are the only honest ones.
The journey from the airport to my hotel in the Pham Ngu Lau area of HCMC was only about 10km, but the roads were gridlocked with scooters and cars with it being New Years Eve, it looked like the whole of Saigon was out celebrating. The first thing that struck me was the lack of Jeepneys and trikes, this was definitely scooter city.
I’d booked hotel for 3 nights in Pham Ngu Lau on line, and for 30 USD a night it was right in the heart of the budget tourist area with hundreds of bars, cafes and shops within a 5 minute walk. After a quick shower I ventured out for a walk and couldn’t help trying to compare it with Manila. Although there are some similarities, this is no Manila. The city is full of western tourists on package tours, independent travellers, back packers, hippies, students...etc. It really is on the tourist map, and the Pham Ngu Lau area caters for them. Although it was full of white faces, the city felt more Asian than Manila. Whereas Manila feels like an Asian Mexico, borrowing from its Spanish and American colonial past, Saigon feels more Asian with a strong Chinese influence and a sprinkling of French for good measure.
The food in Saigon (and the whole of Vietnam) is simply wonderful. None of the deep fried, heavily salted fatty pork without a vegetable in sight that we are used to in the Phil’s. Vietnamese food is a food lovers dream and uses lots of heavily scented herbs, lemon grass, ginger, spices and perfectly fuses South East Asian, Chinese and French flavours.
After a few hours taking in the sights and tastes of Pham Ngu Lau and De Tham Street, I’d already fallen for the buzz and excitement of this marvellous city.
I’d booked myself onto a tour the next day as Elaine wasn’t due to arrive until around midnight. The tour took me out to the Cambodian border to see the Cao Dai temple and Cu Chi tunnels. Although it was an impressive building with beautifully maintained gardens, the temple wasn’t that interesting, and I knew that I would suffer temple fatigue on this trip as no doubt I would see a lot of Cao Dai, Cham, Buddhist, Taoist...etc temples on my way. The Cu Chi tunnels were far more interesting, and the guide gave us a good insight to how the VC built and lived in them during the war. The tunnels were a free target for the US war planes, pilots were told to dump any unused payloads of bombs, napalm and agent orange on the jungles around the tunnels. Most of the tunnels were destroyed in the bombings, but some remain, and they are now a large tourist attraction, with tourists able to go into them, which I did. They were very small and certainly not built for westerners and whilst I was pleased I’d been in them, I was very pleased to get back on the surface.
The following day, Elaine and I decided to get a cyclo driver to take us around the main sights in HCMC. We saw the Reunification Palace and War Remnants Museum, plus a few more temples for good measure. To use its proper name, The War Crimes Museum is a must for all tourists to HCMC. It’s very sobering reading how many Vietnamese were killed or injured during the conflict – 3500000 Vietnamese lost their lives, hundreds of thousands lost limbs as a result of mines and shrapnel, plus there is a lasting legacy of deformed children born after their mothers were exposed to Agent Orange and other chemicals the Americans poured on to the jungle in an attempt to flush out the VC and NVA. In the grounds outside of the museum, there are a about a dozen captured American tanks and fighter planes which provide a good photo opportunity.
On our final day in HMCC we took a hydrofoil down the Saigon River for about 75 minutes to Vung Tao, Saigon’s nearest beach resort. It’s another beautifully manicured town, with perfect shrubbery and gardens all along the sea front, very wide 4 lane roads with smooth asphalt surfaces. We hired a couple of motorcycles and drivers to take us to the major tourist spots, the giant Jesus statue on big mountain. This statue is taller than the more famous one in Rio. We saw lots more temples, pagoda and statues of Buddha.
After 3 nights in Saigon, it was time to head north to Da Nang and the ancient town of Hoi An. We took the over night sleeper train for the 16 hour journey from Saigon to Da Nang.....
...more to follow.
Originally Posted by Terpe
