Finally, after having endured 10 degrees and drizzling rain, two hideous hot dogs at the Hanoi airport (man, were they disgusting!!) and a flight with a Boeing that looked like something taken from a museum, we touched down in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon). It was a relief to change from jeans, thick sweather and jacket to shorts, flip-flop and t-shirt. This time, we made our arrival in super tourist style, having the hotel staff pick us up at the airport outside the terminal, and there he was, our driver with a sign saying “Juan Carls”.
Well at the green suites hotel, we found that we got the “deluxe” room. Great! However, it was difficult to understand how it compared to the “VIP”, “Premium” and “Superior” rooms. Kind of funny. :-)
Anyways, our room was well above the standard we had in Hanoi, for the same price, and had no unwelcomed guests apart from a couple of spiders that we chased off. I was totally beat after catching a cold in Hanoi, and therefore left the reconnisance to Juan Carlos who went out to have a beer in the neighborhood. The morning after, he had a different look on his face, it seemed like we were situated right in the war zone, people chasing around trying to sell everything from crappy souveniers to drugs and female company. What a place..
We started off our first day in Saigon with a power breakfast at the hotel terrace, some toast and eggs, and spent the day exploring the city, going to the reunification palace, war remnance museum and the river. It was easy to tell that this city is the economical centre of the country as opposed to Hanoi. More cars, higher buildings, and higher tempo. On our way to the reunification palace we passed a market filled with fake stuff. I have experienced some pretty agressive selling in China, but this was yet a bit more intensive. People grabbing us by the arms, shirts and whatever sticking out, trying to drag us in to their shops.
Well at the reunification palace, we took a walk around looking at all the structures of the building which held the old government that controlled what was once south vietnam. A lot of stuff from the 60ies, which made the the cold war feel very present. There were some stuff left from the Americans as well.
Coming out of the building, hungry as wolves, we spotted something that looked like a restaurant just one block away. We went over there to have lunch. My first in a while to roaring techno music, which for some reason they considered to be apropriate, maybe it could have a good effect on people with costipation. It looked like we found the place where the hipsters go to show off. Kind of strange to have your chicken and rice to a 135 BPM track pumping at high volume with a DJ and all, but anyways, the food did the trick, and we got away happy.
The war remnance museum was a quite depressing sight. Scores of weapons, helicopters, planes, fotos and packed with stories from all the craziness that went on back in the day. It was clear however that we were in Vietnam, so it was no question about which side told the story this time, as opposed to all the american movies and documentaries that I have seen about it so far that have a different angle. Strange however that noone seemed to bother about all the americans that were there. There were absolutely no sign of hostility towards them from the locals.
After fighting our way through the afernoon traffic, we got to the old post office and settled down to have a coffee for approximatly 2 or 3 times the price of a normal lunch. It still affects me that there can be such a big spectrum in these places under heavy development from the regular guy on the street and the people that are well off.
We made our way down to the saigon river, and then back to our hotel. On the way back a guy helped us to cross the street, under our protest of course, and then asked for money for the service. It is really incredible in vietnam, the way people try virtually every possible way to get ahead.
In the evening we went out to do the town, started off at seventeen club, a two storie place with two filipino live bands and scores of mean looking people you don’t want to mess with. We continued on to “Apocalypse now”, a place recomended in the lonely planet. Bad idea. Consequently it was full with tourists and prostitutes and inflated prices. We quickly refrained to follow our instinct and moved on down towards the river and stumbled across a club where we turned out to be the only big-nosed, pale skinned guys in the whole club. There it was party, vietnamese style, which meant standing around a table, ordering in drinks, snacks and fruit platters while watching the DJ and the totally empty dance floor. The sound, light and setting though was perfect. Incredibly good actually. After a while we continued on to yet another place in the same style, and got invited to the table of a group of vietnamese kids in their 20ies, to drink whiskey shots. It was really fun to talk to the locals, we had a great time! One thing about these places that really struck me was the amount of “security” guys running around. It seemed like the number of security staff was around 1 per every 3 guests, incredible. There were absolutely no problems though.
The day after it was time to visit the Cu Chi village and the famous tunnels that the north vietnamese side used during the war to escape the heavy bombing from the american armada. We had a really good guide that explained the uprunning to the war, that had been raging for several years before the americans came along, and that there still was quite a lot of tension between the people of the north and south even today. Of course, I can imagine, a conflict of that magnitude will take a lot of time before it cools down completely.
We saw all the booby traps, left equipment, and of course also squeezed ourselves through a section of the tunnels. I still got dirt stains on my shorts and t-shirt from that day that didn’t come off. And yes, it was not something for people tending to being claustrophobic. An interesting, but not very pleasant experience.
So there they lived, 16.000 people under ground, some for as long as 20 years! I would go nuts, and I am pretty sure many of them did. At the end of the tour, we tried out the weapons used during the conflict, an experience in itself, however I am not that keen on guns, I had my share in the military and would rather see that all that metal would be turned in to something more constructive.
Finally, some sun and warm weather!! :-)
Some guys playing a board game in the street. Getting attacked at the market :-)
The reunification palace. This is where the government of the south was based.
To the left, one of the tanks that penetrated the gates and ended the war. To the right, Juan Carlos taking an important call.
From the inside, all the furniture and decoration intact.
The vietnamese are experts at sleeping on their motorbikes. Here’s one.
A couple of hours later we passed him again, and he had changed his position a bit. This actually looks more comfy, don’t you think? :-)
There’s a lot of motorbikes in Saigon as well!
Massive traffic..
Some pictures from the 1102 club.
A cool painting on the wall.
Family transportation, Saigon style :-)
One of the entrances to the tunnels. This is how the people recycled the bombs(!)
One of the traps set up for the enemy
Down in the tunnels.
