It’s starting to become clear that the buses and taxis are all working together. Like a not so sneaky plan, the bus drivers drop fresh faced tourists off on the outskirts of a city and then literally feed said tourists to the pools of taxi sharks lurking at the bus door. I’m positive there is either commission or/and a cut that the bus drivers take from the taxi drivers after tourists pay the extortionate rates they offer. I haven’t met a traveller yet, who has coughed up the price of a taxi (motorbike or car), and frankly, if I did meet him/her, I’d probably want to slap them. Laziness and stupidity come to mind. You’re often being dropped in a bus station, with other buses, many of them local. It doesn’t take to much energy to realise that the chances of one of these local buses going your way at a fraction of the taxi price are pretty high. Maybe I’m being short sighted, but that last option is what Malene and I tend to do and Saigon was no different. After barging our way through the crowd of blood thirst taxi men, we eventually found a local bus that was going the right way. Not only saving money, but making it a little easier for future travellers passing through. If tourists insist on paying these crazy prices offered by taxi drivers, then there’s no reason why they should ever lower the price of their services. If more and more travellers use local methods of getting around, then hopefully (I might be wrong, it’s happened before) taxi drivers will bring their prices back down. Just an idea.
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city in the guide books) is an alive and buzzing city. With its complex road system as its veins and the motor bikes its blood, its life. Yes, there are 4 million motor bikes racing around the streets but its these two wheeled machines weaving in and out and over pavements, that give the city it’s energy. It’s totally daunting at first. Even deliberating crossing the road seems like an impossibility. Waiting for the green man at the zebra crossing doesn’t help either as (a) they can still turn right on a red and (b) 70% percent of them don’t actually adhere to the traffic lights. So watch out when the little green guy gives you the nod to cross…have a good look first, in all directions. That’s another strange rule that we’re slowly getting accustomed to, you can ride on what ever side of the road you like. For example, people in Vietnam drive on the right. However, if they turned left out of a driveway, and wanted to turn left further down the road, then the would stick to the left hand side of the road, thus saving crossing the road and traffic. Whether that makes sense or not, rest assure, it’s always a challenge crossing a street, but kind of fun at the same time.
After dropping Malene and our bags off at a very expensive coffee shop and ordering one ball of ice cream (cheapest item on the menu), I headed out it the sweltering heat in search of accommodation. With our bags getting heavier and heavier, this was always the easiest option, and since I can use the map on my phone a little better, it was often my duty to search out shelter. It often felt like a cave-man-era thing to do. I would go out, make a hut out of dried palm leaves and then kill a pig for dinner. In reality, I just wanted to find the cheapest place possible. Cheap and Saigon don’t really go hand in hand. 15$, 20$, even 25$ for a room, in the heart of the backpacker district, this was ridiculous! After a little more sweat and a few more tears, I managed to find a few places for 10$ a night – still way over budget, but probably better than sleeping on the streets. We took it, along with its incredible A/C and fridge! Living a life of luxury.
Saigon is a great place to just wonder the streets. There is so much happening that you really don’t know where to look. I would say, keep one eye on the traffic (both front and back) another eye on the food stalls and street life and maybe your final eye on the fantastic architecture found in the buildings that line the roads. Sit down at any of the beer Hoi stalls in the evening and watch tourists dodge traffic and locals blow flames of fire from their mouths. Eating wise, it has to be street food. Vietnam is so famous for its delicious range of food and no where serves it up better (or cheaper) than the little glass cabinet vendors that you’ll see everywhere, normally with a sea of locals around them.
Feeling a little bit more fashionable.
Exhibit from the excellent war memorial museum.
Street food, the best there is.
We took a one day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, approximately an hours bus ride from the city. Again the sun was blazing hot, which we tried not to complain knowing what it was like back home. These tunnels are the original homes of the Vietnamese during the war and were dug by the Viet Congs in order to protect themselves and battle with the invading Americans. They dug tens of thousands of miles of tunnel networks and included booby-traps, secret entrances, kitchens, hospitals and weapon making factories. We got to go down and feel heat and closeness of the tunnels – even if they had been made wider for us fat tourists! In parts, I was on my stomach crawling through, almost imagining the American army squads walking just a few feet above me. It’s a well preserved and historically, very important area. We both gave it a big thumbs up and recommend it highly.
One of the many secret entrances.
A fat tourist.
Standard tank pose.
M60 time.
We made a lot of plans here in Saigon for the rest of our Vietnam travels, often slightly under the influence of cheap Bia Hoi. One thing we decided was to buy an open bus ticket that would take us all the way north to Hanoi and stop in all the cities we wanted to visit. At 40$ a ticket, it felt a bit expensive, but we were assured that its a lot cheaper than buying individual tickets along the way. We just hoped it would all run smoothly, and with just a receipt in hand, we left the bus office. We had no idea how many problems we were about to have.
Our travels through Asia 