Vietnam: HCMC

Another crazy, huge city. Mopeds are the rule here. Crossing the street is an experience. The drivers here go slowly. Everywhere. A left turn at an intersection consists of getting into the left lane (yes, directly into oncommung traffic) and turning left while still on the left (wrong) side of the road. Now, the driver is like a salmon swimming upstream, but slowly making his/her way to the right. Believe it or not, that’s just how it’s done. Walking across the street requires a quick shot of adrenaline, enough to push you out into the mayhem. From there, go forward. Don’t stop or change direction and for the sake of safety, don’t dare run! The sea of mopeds and cars part and leave you untouched and with a definite feeling of accomplishment. I googled this q while ago, before I left. It’s just commonly accepted that crossing is like this. Love it.

Where the Cambodians were sagacious, the Vietnamese are both quick to get it and equally hilarious! Everyone’s up for a joke; when I’d nearly cartwheel on one of the ridiculous HCMC curbs there was always someone to point and give an understanding laugh. It was really refreshing. I spent two days meeting lots of Vietnamese and really enjoying the interactions.

Food? Good, not great here. I’m still Thai-spoiled. Fresh is an understatement, and that’s a real plus.

Yesterday, 17 Jan, took the Lonely Planet recommended walking tour. My second such endeavour of this, now five month old trip’ and really enjoyed myself. HCMC has a ton to see and food is never far away.

Visited HCMC museum. Saw some of the Vietnamese war exhibits. These are the mild ones and I was a wreck…so I made a note to skip the War Crimes museum and etc. The re-unification Palace was a great stop. For just under $1 I took a guided tour. Lots of amazing moments transpired in some of those rooms. The highlight was definitely the basement with the war-planning rooms with their original typewriters and rotary phones and secret staircase.

This entry was posted on January 19, 2007 at 9:00 pm and is filed under SE Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

| Print