Saigon

Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnams largest (and craziest) city. "World capital of motorbikes" as it is sometimes called, the sea of motorbikes on the streets can make one dizzy. Of course crossing the road is as mental as it can be in Vietnam, and the same goes for just walking on the "side-walk", as motorbikes are driving there as well. Nobody gives much attention to street-lights or lanes and it is normal to drive on the opposite side of traffic. Oh well, after 2 weeks of being here, we have gotten quite used to this.

From Vietnam

Saigon also seems to have some streets dedicated to certain products, like Hanoi did, but not to such an extent. In Hanoi if you needed a towel you went to Towel Street, safes could be found on Safe Street, air-conditioners on Air-conditioner street etc. Its a bit tricky if you are looking for something particular but then there are a few general shops as well, and then there are of course the street vendors for anything from sun-glasses (these vendors are approaching you in the rate of about one per minute), to paintings, books, food, drink, jewelry, watches (stolen ?), fans and all sorts of trinkets you have no need for but will be forced to look at anyway, especially if you're parked in a table close to the street in a restaurant and trying to have a meal.

Street vendors in Vietnam in general, but particularily in Saigon are eternal optimists and oh-so-persistant. If you are lucky then saying "No thanks" twice will suffice. This can creep up to about 6 times, with them waiting around for you at the cafe window or following you around for a bit. The words "Motor-bike?" will follow you everywhere and almost all of them are self-made guides of the city. But generally- whether this is because we are really getting accustumed to the culture here- people seem smily and friendly, they might not understand but they will laugh in a shy manner over this.

Food so far has been very tasty and if you dare to go to one of the street-side cafes where the locals eat- then very cheap. As we had a bad experience with this in Hue (my stomach turns even at the memory), I think for the moment we will give it a pass, especially as even the better restaurants are always cheap by western standards anyway.

We also managed to find real coffee here, in other smaller towns "cappuccino" has meant vietnamese coffee with a small layer of foam on top. Not that there's anything wrong with vietnamese coffee but the sweet condensed milk chocolate drink can give you a sugar rush for hours and unless you specify for it to be hot, it will first be served in a glass with ice.

Today we also began to look at Vietnam with different eyes after visiting the War Rembrance Museum. Shocking and horrifying, we felt for the Vietnamese and really understand better now why they still seem to be a bit of a closed culture after enduring so many atrocities.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

Tomorrow we will be moving on to Cambodia.

Final thoughts about Vietnam- one can get used to the madness and you can have experiences on all levels and extremes here. It is a bumpy ride, it will certainly not leave you unaffected, cold, or bored. Our mistake perhaps was to have expectations about this country, Vietnam was a great teacher of the Buddhist lesson that expectation is the source of our unhappiness. In this way- even though we didn't really find spirituality in this Buddhist country, it was an extremely spiritual experience. We met ourselves, our own impatience, our own failings- what a great teacher Vietnam ended up to be.