The Road Well Travelled Around the world in 365 days: SE Asia - Europe - UK - USA

We board an internal flight to Ho Chi Minh City arriving at 9.30pm. From the taxi ride through the heart of the city to our guesthouse we can already sense that Saigon is bigger, brighter and crazier than Hanoi. If we  thought Hanoi traffic was chaotic, this was doubly so...although as The Doctor later pointed out you become oblivious to the seemingly dangerous driving etiquette after a few days - oh that scooter with a family of four and a baby standing in between the parents being held only by the legs is heading straight for us...*shrug shoulders* ehhh, they will dodge us...is our taxi driving onto the wrong side of the road into a wall of oncoming traffic to get around this bus...ok yeah, driver go for the take-over! Amazingly we are yet to witness any kind of road accident.

We locate our guesthouse down a tiny, cluttered, dark lane off the main road and realise that we are staying in the seedy part of town. Whenever stepping out alone, The Doctor is inundated with offers to be taken to a “massage” parlour - no such offers when I am in sight! On our first night we step into a bar to get a late feed and realise that the clientele are older single western men sitting alone at the bar. As we wait for our meals the cutest 5 year old comes up to our table, does a little dance and waves his wares in front of our faces - one packet of cigarettes and one packet of gum ( I don’t think his little hands could carry any more) - all without saying a word. He’s so adorable I just want to scoop  him up but realise this poor child is probably being pimped out for sales to tourists without really knowing what he is doing. The Cute Kid gives up and runs off and from the corner of my eye I spot a black mass scurrying from the kitchen area to the bar. Although I am without glasses I am definite lizards don’t move like that and it must be...a rat. The Doctor and I see at least five more roaming the streets over the next few days and wonder just how rat infested Saigon is?

Our first few days are hot. Stinking hot. Swelteringly, sweat pouring hot. You can understand why Saigon’s residents prefer to leave their front doors open at all hours or congregate to chat and play  just outside their homes. Hell, why not take out your banana lounge and laze around on the footpath of the main road, right next to the gutter, in order to catch the slightest of breezes as I have witnessed at least one woman doing. I am fairly certain that I have lost a couple of kilos purely through sweat just when stationary. In fact at the end of a day of sight-seeing my face resembles a salt lake. Never have I had such a persistent sweat moustache. Needless to say I don’t feel all that comfortable, attractive or clean.

The first place we visit is the War Museum. Of all the sights we are to take in over our time here, the content of this museum is the one that is to stick with me for days. The only way to describe this place is absolutely horrifying. I can not get the image of an American GI holding up half the mangled corpse of a Viet Cong who was the victim of a grenade, with the other half at the GI’s feet, out of my head. In fact I am unable to bring myself to look at most of these photos too closely but come away with an understanding of what a mess the war was and how brutal and disgusting war in general is. What I can not understand is exactly who, after looking at all that horror, would want to buy a novelty bullet key-ring etc being sold on sight, or even pose smiling with thumbs up in front of the tanks. During our visit to the Cu Chi tunnels we have the opportunity to fire a shotgun and I also fail to understand how ‘playing’ with something so violent could be ‘fun’. The Doctor does it anyway and afterwards reports that it wasn’t so exciting after all. He also decides to try out the spider hole but once inside, starts to panic and fails to remember to exit with his arms up and becomes momentarily stuck. I wonder how many times someone who was just a tad too large descended and was unable to free themselves.

Easter Sunday is celebrated with cocktails at Saigon Saigon Bar, on the rooftop of one of the five star hotels overlooking the city. From this vantage point it feels like a different city - more peaceful, more relaxing and definitely a lot cooler! We wander around this glamorous part of town which is cleaner, prettier and more presentable, but to me, feels more boring and generic. Overall, I like Saigon. A bit sleazy but with a buzzing vibe, it is all I thought it would be. This town definitely feels like the place to be in Vietnam.