Saigon!!

Yes I know it's Ho Chi Minh City now but I will call it Saigon, because I like the name better... and it's shorter.

Getting here was a little nightmare. Our pick up was 30 min late, and as cranky as we are in the morning we were annoyed to the bone when some French girl were late even more and the bus had to wait for them. The first ride we took, a minibus, was ok. It took us through a road in building progress (read: gravel) through countryside to reach a dodgy pier after 2 hours. There we boarded what looked like a smaller version of the boat we took from Battambang. Although it was much less crowded (two of us, 3 french girls, one amercian guy and the boat driver together with his wife and son) there was no rooftop space to sit :[. To our amazement the French girls devoted themselves to picking hair from different parts of their bodies (O_o) so we were entertained through some part of the trip but the rest was pretty boring. The countryside wasn’t even closely as beautiful as on the previous boat ride and it wasn’t until the Cambodian border check point that we cheered up a bit. The boarder was nothing I am used to, comparing both to Thailan-Cambodia quite strict passage and western ones. This one was a simple port for 1 or 2 boats, a booth for an officer, toilet and several men chilling in their hammocks that didn’t seem to be of any use to the official other than keeping him company. Then there was the Vietnamese border check point. It looked more “civilized” so to say, with actual concrete building, but we never saw any official. We were just told to hand in our passports, rest and eat and change boats. Later came the worst part of the trip when finally disembarked in Chau Doc, we were crammed into a small bus. Way too many people for way too little space. The worst part was the Vietnamese people who were taking the bus with us and several other foreigners were all tiny comparing to the tall white men or rather plump French girls. They still took the seats which had the most leg space and forced us to cram in the back seat with our knees up the chins nearly – and that lasted sth like 6 hours. I wanted to travel – here I go…. :/ When we got to Saigon, no room booked, it seemed there was no budget accommodation available until I stumbled upon a very nice older guy from Singapore who told me to look in the dark alleys of what looked like a Chinatown. So after we got that settled we could finally relax and enjoy.

In the city itself, there’s not too much to see/do. Downtown can be walked in one day, which is exactly what we did. I was quite surprised to see some French style architecture and quite a lot of French expats so long after the war, which I was told to have destroyed the city – yet they rebuilt it in original style?! They also have their own Notre Dame!!

The city itself is quite likeable. We met a very friendly Vietnamese bloke who just wanted to practice his English but shared some valuable tips on discovering Vietnam too. But the cyclo drivers were annoying. We agreed on a price and after taking us around the corner they say they were joking - ?!?! As we didn’t agree on the new price we just jumped off and took a taxi – very cheap comparing to what those folk tried to rip us off from. Window shopping was painful though… so many pretty and cheap stuff: chopsticks, plates, tea service etc. but the problem is: who’s going to carry all the wares?! Charms of backpacking… maybe next time;) We also had to try the Pho soup, and we did it in the same place where ex-president Clinton had his Pho years back!

Anyways, with my travel buddy sick and not much else to do/see in so little time we decided to hit the beach asap. Seems we got tired of travelling and need to recharge.

I also finished a very interesting book “travels of a t-shirt in world economy”. It describes exactly as the title suggest the travel of a t-shirt from its birthplace – cotton farm to second-hand handling in Africa. Highly recommendable, also due to the fact that it contains a lot of graphs and to all the people around you are fantastically smart or boringly nerdy.

The next book I started and am halfway through is one about Cambodian Khmer Rouge rule seen from the eyes of a little girl who survived. “First they killed my father” sucked me in for the whole journey to Mui Ne ( ~5h). It made me laugh, it made me cry but for the most part it made me think that we learn history at school wrong. I might know the events and dates, and even details of ancient were gear and strategies but I still don’t understand the causes of conflicts. After all, history is supposed to teach us about past so as not to make the same mistakes again. I wish they made me read this kind of books back in school. They are not only eyes-opening but also good history lessons from the view of a single person, a living creature who has a family and feelings, instead of teaching us dry facts and dates.

We chose the worst time to travel around Vietnam with the lunar New Year coming up all the prices skyrocket. We manaed to get our tickets for open bus (hop on hop off wherever you wish – at least that’s the theory) at reasonable prices but with no assurance that we won’t have to pay some more. I just adore those ladies behind travel agency counters trying to sell me but can’t answear basic questions…. By the way, service in Vietnam is nowhere as good as back in Cambodia.

It also occurred to me that the Vietnamese don’t really care about their environment. From the bus window wherever I looked there was rubbish piling on both sides of the road. Even though I am not “green” I still believe this was outrageous.

As for people, the bloke we met in the park and had a nice conversation with was among the very few that were really friendly. At the restaurants the staff seems rather uninterested and in travel agencies they have no clue what they’re selling and when you keep asking, both sides just get annoyed. And it doesn’t help either that it is really difficult to understand when they speak English, as they have difficulties pronouncing “s” and “w”…

Anyways, wanting to escape the hassles of big city, we hopped on the bus, direction : Mui Ne - suppousedly the best beach in Vietnam.

p.s. They banned Facebook in Vietnam!! Ugh that's a involuntary detox :/