Saigon Saigon

My last blog wasn't a normal one and I accept that it was rather negative. Apologies to those who have expressed concern, I am OK and feeling much better now, so thank you for caring :) I think a big part of it was just getting my feelings down on paper, or well a keyboard and putting them out there. I want to portray how I feel and I think and be honest about the reality of it because that is how I am as a person so it is important for my blog to match this. I could easily write about how amazing it is and how I'm having such a blast and make everyone jealous at home, but that just isn't me. 

In hindsight, I felt I lost perspective, but I have managed to reign myself back in. Having seen a little more poverty in the south of Vietnam, I remind myself how lucky I am to be out here and doing this. I am lucky to have found a bed for the night and some rice to fill my hungry tummy. From now on, I want to be and will be absolutely grateful for what is available. I may be eating the same thing for days but I know that all will be recovered when we reach cities and towns where a variety of food and shelter is available.

So, since my last update we rested for a day in another beach resort town called Mui Ne. There was nothing really there apart from hotels and resorts and the beach but it was just nice to relax. I think I need to do a little more of that and perhaps not get so run down. From there, we then cycled for another 3 days into Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now formally named. I much prefer 'Saigon'. It sounds so much more romantic and seductive and exciting. The people here love the man, Ho Chi Minh himself (or at least the government does). There are pictures of him everywhere all over the country on road side billboards, restaurants, governmental buildings and people's homes, but why change a name of a city!?

Anyway, so it was pretty mental coming into Saigon, as you can imagine. Busy, chaotic and heavily populated with the usual vehicles of all sorts on the road. We have a young Vietnamese lady on a scooter to thank for getting us to the city centre. We were stood at a crazy busy junction looking at various maps trying to figure out which was the best way to go when she saw us and stopped. Instead of giving directions, she said 'Follow me' and drove us at cycling pace all the way into the centre - bless her! 

Saigon is a little different because it is made up of number of 'districts' all bundled together and called a city. I like it. It is very cosmopolitan, very modern but it still holds the weird and wonderful traditional Vietnamese norms. There are brand new shiny sky scrapers, chic boutiques, expensive designer shops such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci but next door will be a little cafe selling com and pho and the little plastic stool scattered all over the pavement! Quite extraordinary really. I can just imagine a Vietnamese socialite spending on her credit card in the DKNY store and then coming out into the heat to have a lunch of 'Pho Bo' (beef noodle soup) on a pavement stool next door. Maybe not, but the contradictory ways will hopefully never change and I can see why there are roughly 80,000 ex-pats here. I wouldn't mind living here myself.  

Take a look at these 3 buildings right next to one another and how they differ! This is Saigon.

We have spent 3 and a half days here. To anyone new to Vietnam there are plenty of pagodas, temples and museums to see. But for us, we are pagoda'd out having traveled the full length of the country and seen all the sights along the way. I have enjoyed not having any pressure to pack in as many sights as possible while here and instead chill and enjoy the atmosphere of the city, which we have done mainly from coffee shop tables :) We did do the War Remnants museum which proudly displayed graphic pictures from the US-Vietnam war from all sorts of angles and outlooks. But, to my disappointment did not actually talk about why the war started in the first place. Hello Wikipedia for this! 

I am really excited now about Cambodia. Today, we left for the border. I feel satisfied with my time in Vietnam. I feel I have seen most of what there is to see here and all the bits in between and I am ready to move on to a new country. Although in doing this, I now have to learn what 'hotel', 'rice', and 'how much?' is in Cambodian, but that is all part of the fun. I wonder if in Cambodia you can happily pick your nose in public like they do here, or spit, or pee at the side of the road. I wonder if people just walk in front of you as if you are not there. Here, there is no such thing as 'After you' or 'Excuse me'. They do not exist, if you are in their way, they simply push past you. I'm looking forward to finding out if the Cambodians are the same!