Tuesday 28 February 2012

Vietnam: Saigon


Or Ho Chi Minh as you might prefer.  Though the locals tell me they call it Saigon.  Hell, even the public bus and train tickets all have Saigon printed on them.  One man tells me it's because Vietnamese are lazy and there's one less syllable to say in the name.

My first impression after wandering the streets is it's definitely not as romantic as Hanoi - but it definitely has it's fair share hustle and bustle.
Bustle is french for wet


I've heard many horror stories of tourists having their bags snatched, falling for scams, and the locals being generally unfriendly - but I suspect that if you keep your wits about you and don't do anything stupid (like walk home drunk and alone at 3am) then you'll be OK.  Use your common sense people, and keep your wits about you.  Out of the few locals I met in my short time there, they were all very friendly and most helpful if you asked them for help, and sitting down at one of the numerous street cafes for a coffee or tea I had the occasional person strike up a friendly conversation with me about Vietnam, New Zealand, the economy, cock fighting etc.  In fact, that's how I found out what the chickens in small cages kept in the front of random cafes are for - they're for cock-fighting [No Homo] - sometimes for gambling, sometimes for fun.



As my time in Saigon is very brief, I opt only to visit two of the main tourist attractions - the War Memorial Museum and the Presidential Square - which is home to a cool kitschy 60s museum.  I'm quite a fan artifacts from that period of history so it's quite cool to see all these old dial telephones, radio equipment, and pimping gaming lounge.

Come on - the president's office even has a stuffed big cat in it.
How can you say no to that?


The other place I visit is the War Memorial Museum.  Like the War Museum in Hanoi this one also has a selection of planes, tanks and big guns out front, but unlike the one in Hanoi, the inside is a large collection of photographs from the wartime.  This is all entirely fascinating and harrowing all at once - with uncut photographs of the horrors and casualties of the fighting, and plenty of lingering on the many many war crimes committed over here.  I find the room dedicated to photographs of Agent Orange victims particularly sad - all these people who can't live normal lives as they are born with grotesque deformities or have developed them after exposure.

Sorry to end this on a bad note - but Agent Orange is a bitch.












1 comment:

  1. I found a boxed bubble bobble cart in this crazy area with lots of giant hardware stores and quite a few electronics / game places...

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