...and that is indeed what I have been doing! The traffic hear in HCM makes even London look quite. Never in my life have I ever seen some many bikes all weaving across the roads, mounting the pavements and generally causing havoc. For some reason though, it seems to work - organised chaos I like to call it. The locals (no foreigner would dare jump on one) to my amazement carry all sorts of things on them too, from multiple people (saw 5 in total)to floor tiles!! Madness.
Crossing the road here too is another matter in itself. At first I waited and waited...I then tagged along with a local, now I go it alone. I've learnt the best way is just to brave it and let them dodge you as you walk across praying they have eyes! Sounds mad I know but it works.
So my day so far has been rather eventful. Aside from dashing across the streets, I've visited a couple of key sites and the war museum. I've also managed to plan out the next 4 days, which I will tell you about at the end of this 'essay'
This morning started with a lay-in for Dabinett. After emailing yesterday I headed back to the hostel for some pho (soup) and bumped into the 2x nucleur engineer lads again. They certinaly had a few stories to tell, which got more and more interesting as the beers flowed! Both in their early 40s (i think),they had travelled pretty much everywhere mantaining nuc stations across the globe. The latest - China! The things they'd seen just blew me away, and made me feel very untravelled!
After I bad night of sleeps (jetlag) I emerged from my air con room for breakie (more pho!!) and then hopped on one of the cyclo things (kinda like tuk tuks) for a petite tour of the city and some of the key sights. All good, but just a tad too hot today! I then visited the war museum, which was quite horrifying if Im honest - lots of disturbing pictures and accounts of the Vnam war!!
So this evening Im heading to the local 5* hotel for a swim and sauna. I met a really nice ozy girl earlier today who suggested it - the perfect way to end a busy day in this chaotic place.
Overall similar feelings for HCM as I have about Bangkok - really looking forward to seeing the countryside and getting away from all the noise, smog and traffic. People hassle you quite a bit here too which gets rather anmoying after a while. I've lost count of how many times I've been offered the Lonely Planet Vietnam, even when they can see I am reading one!
so for the next few days;
Tomorrow - Chi Chu for the day to see the VCong tunnels -
Weds/ Thurs - Mekong (staying overnight)
Fri - booked a 6 hour (eek) bus ticket to dalat.
Hope all is well back home and it's not too cold!!
Speak soon
Cxxx
p.s Mum/Dad/NJ - great to speak to you all last night. Will call again before you jet off for Noel.
