Off East

We flew from Nha Trang to Saigon (the locals mostly still call it Saigon despite it’s name officially being Ho Chi Minh City now). Flying within Vietnam is cheap and very easy. Vietnam Airlines seem really good! It’s only an hours flight but we didn’t really have time left on our visas to stop anywhere else in between as we wanted to leave enough days to explore the Mekong Delta too.

Saigon is a proper big, international city! Nothing like Hanoi, which is quaint and very Asian feeling. Saigon has tall buildings, international company headquarters, a high population and also all the problems that go with being the capital city in a country which is still developing fast.  The traffic was terrible though – just an endless sea of motorbikes and cars none of which were going anywhere very quickly…!  In our short time there it was pretty obvious that the infrastructure in Saigon is in dire need of updating. The sewers, drainage, cabling and roads/pavements all need major investment. In such a busy and populous city it’s hard to see how that can happen though as they really need to dig up the roads, fix the sewers, put the myriad of electrical/phone cables underground and sort out the pavements (which at times are non-existent). There’s a lot of money being invested in Vietnam but it mainly goes on tourism and business. If they don’t sort out the infrastructure too then it may be too late to do it without causing major disruption which will obviously impact their tourism potential. The country and government face a bit of a dilemma which could cause real problems if not addressed! That said the Vietnamese seem a resourceful people and I’m sure they’ll work it out.

We treated ourselves to a nice hotel in Saigon. We felt like we deserved a bit of luxury after all our travelling. The 5 star Sofitel had a sale on which made it affordable although still the most expensive place we’d stayed to date… Have to say the service was some of the best I’ve ever experienced in a hotel and the rooftop swimming pool was brilliant!

Saigon has some amazing architecture, a lot of the old government buildings were built by the French which gives the city a fairly cosmopolitan feel. It’s pretty easy to walk around most of the main sights and restaurant/bar areas. And that’s pretty much what we did during our time there; walk, stop to see a building, walk, stop to eat or drink There are some great restaurants and bars there although some of the nicest food we had in the city was at a fast food place called Pho 24 which serves just Pho (delicious noodle soup). It’s dirt cheap and as good as the Pho you get anywhere.

One afternoon/evening we went to visit a Vietnamese friend of Em’s parents who they’d met when they were in Vietnam a couple of years ago. Phong and his family live in the suburbs and they very kindly treated us to a great afternoon where Em got to try her hand at rolling spring rolls and we played with their lovely daughter (who’s western name is apparently Emily). They cooked us an amazing meal – enough food for about 15 people (!) and we had a great time.  As ever meeting locals on their own territory is always the best way to get a better understanding of the culture and how friendly they are. Thanks Phong, Van and family!!!

We discovered the backpacker area of the city the next day. It’s full of cheap hotels, small bars (most of which were full of very young Vietnamese girls and old Western men) and eateries (we had an amazing  Southern Indian meal here). It’s also full of tour companies who can book you trips to the Mekong and beyond. We had been thinking about trying to organise a cycling trip, although we weren’t sure as it was so hot. We went into one shop, Asiana Travel Mate (great local travel company dealing in really good tours), and sat down with the sales person. Her name was Thu and she proceeded to give us so much useful information about a cycling tour to the Mekong Delta which included boat tickets up the river to Cambodia that we ended up booking straight away (more on the cycling trip in the next post). We stayed chatting with Thu for some time and explained that we really liked getting the chance to meet locals in their own environment so we could really experience the culture. At this she got extremely excited and asked us if we wanted to go and visit her parents with her the next day. Of course we said yes!

Thu’s parents live in a small village about an hour outside Saigon towards the Mekong. They have a small farm where they grow a huge range of tropical fruits. We went there by car and stopped off at the village market to buy meat, fish, vegetables and noodles to take to her folks house for lunch. We arrived to a huge welcome from her parents and fresh coconuts ready for drinking. Following that was a massive platter of fresh fruit from their own trees which we tucked into as we all chatted.

Thu and her Mum disappeared to prepare lunch so we chatted with her Dad. He’s a lovely guy with a really interesting background; he was well educated and worked with the Americans during the war in a senior role in the South Vietnamese army. Because of that, when the war ended, the newly formed communist regime sent him to be ‘re-educated’ as a farmer. This meant he was separated from his family at times. He’d also spent some time in a prison, not for doing anything wrong, just as a result of his circumstances during the war – i.e working for the losing side; very unfair.  We were saddened to hear his story but (not for the first time) amazed at the resilience of the Vietnamese.

He hadn’t used English for many, many years and as the day wore on he became more confident and by the end of the day we were discussing pretty much anything with him. It was quite amazing to see a language come flooding back to someone like that!  Thu was particularly touched and amazed to see her Dad speaking so fluently in English and taking such pride in telling us his side of the story.

He also took great pride in taking us to see how the locals farmed the area and to see his fruit plantation. We learnt all about the farming techniques they use and how hard they work to keep soil fertile and well irrigated (a backbreaking, never-ending task). He even took us to meet other relatives who lived near by. We had a great lunch with Thu and her parents, their hospitality was amazing and the day was one of the highlights of our time in Vietnam!

We spent the rest of our time in Saigon mooching about and seeing a few sights and an inordinate amount of time trying to cross the traffic-clogged roads. Oh and wondering whether we’d done the right thing booking a cycling tour in 35 degree heat and humidity (more on that in the next post)

Here’s a few photos from in and around Saigon.