10/18 – Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

It’s still hot! And muggy and just brutal! We’re off the ship first thing because we know we have a very short time to spend here today. And we are about 2 to 2.5 hours from the city – depending on traffic. Yikes!

We’ve booked a private tour through Smile Tours. Had the option to have others with us for a lower price, but we had our own agenda and it didn’t include the water puppet show (go to youtube and search on water puppets Saigon – you’ll see why we weren’t too crazy about wasting our time there). So we’re off, just the 2 of us and Kate – our guide – and driver (who’s name we never did find out!).

We left the port at 8 – right on time and head to Saigon on what they would call a motorway. We’d call it Route 1 without traffic lights (which btw barely exist here!). We make our way through little ramshackle towns, with markets and shops, and tons of activity on the side of the divided (by jersey barriers which people are crawling over to cross the road! Dear Lord!) highway.

And the scooters! They are back – and in numbers like you wouldn’t believe! On the road – they stay in the left lane, but then we come over there in the car to pass slower cars and trucks, and the driver just blows his horn a lot to let them know we’re coming. It’s a mess. And that’s not all! They use those darn scooters to haul stuff – we’re talking doors, windows, piles of crates, Styrofoam crates – even live chickens, stacked 5 feet high. Then there are the families – 4 to a scooter – Mom, Dad, and 2 little kids! I only wish I could have taken pictures of all this as we were speeding by in our little encapsulated world!

We navigate through the traffic, the little towns and the scooters, soon passing very lush farmland with water buffalo grazing on the side of the road. You can see though, why it takes 2 to 2.5 hours to go a little over 70 km – between the sl0ow trucks in the left lane, the scooters, and then the carts pulled by water buffalo. It’s not exactly fast going there. Not to mention the traffic circles from hell! These people just drive – there is no rhyme or reason, no right of way. We couldn’t believe that we didn’t see more accidents on the way. It’s too wild.

All along the way, Kate (who’s Vietnamese name is Khahn – she just uses Kate because it’s easier for us to say), fills us with all sorts of information about Vietnam. The name of the country comes from the Chinese refugees who came “south” (the word nam) to this area to settle. She explained the Chinese New year (Tet) which is still celebrated here, and how Vietnam has incorporated so many traditions of the different nationalities that settled here. Among all the interesting facts she doled out, one of the most fascinating is that they are all one year older than we would be. They consider themselves 1 year old when they are born (counting the time in the womb) – so Kate is 24 – but to us she would only be 23. Hmmm….that’s something we could sell in the US, don’t you think?

Today is a good day for traffic and we buzz into Saigon by 9:30. We’re so early, Kate’s a little off her schedule. We go by the Handicraft center first –and we’re literally the first people there. They have to turn on the lights for us! This is the place where they hire disabled people (“the ones hurt by Agent Orange” – a direct quote) to create the beautiful lacquer pieces you see all over Vietnam. It’s an “official” shopping stop on every tour (Princess tours included). And while you can’t really tell the difference from the cheaper pieces in the market (hell, they probably come from here) it still makes an impact to see these people doing the work.

Plus, it’s really amazing how they make the pieces. They use egg shell for a lot of the designs so there are thousands of baskets of egg shells laying around waiting to be used. Then they go through this huge process to lacquer, place the egg shell, lacquer it again, then polish it and finish it. They use mother of pearl and other materials as well. It’s kind of a cool stop –and we did decide to go ahead and buy some things there – did we overpay? Yeah, probably, but it’s the whole idea that we bought into – even if it’s the “sanctioned” shopping stop. So – as my sister would say – whatever!

Next stop the Emperor Jade Pagoda. Only we have a problem, we get lost! The driver missed the street and it’s only a one way street so we spend the next 30 minutes cruising around Saigon – through back streets and markets and dead ends. It’s wild. And a little funny except the driver’s getting really kind of ticked off because he’s lost! Ok – so change of plans. We’re going to the War Remnants Museum. Sure – whatever – we’re in Saigon! Take us anywhere – we don’t care!

We spent 20 minutes of our allotted 30 minutes wandering through absolutely horrid displays of the outcome of the war here. Not a pleasant place, but then again, a very good reminder of just why diplomacy should always be the first and hopefully effective tactic. Phew! Got out of the picture area quickly and just focused on the cool planes and Huey’s that were left over and on display. Photo op’s- an we’re outta there.

Next up – the Notre Dame Cathedral and the General Post office. Nice buildings – great architecture. What’s next?

We’re running early, but Kate calls ahead and we head straight to Ngon – the Restaurant we want to go to for lunch. It’s one of the biggest and best in Saigon. Ed’s read all about it – and it’s another reason we’re on our own – because this was a priority for us in Saigon. Heck, even our Vietnamese hairdresser told us to go there when she found out we were visiting.

Our reserved table is waiting for us, under the canopy of trees in the courtyard (and the big umbrella that helps with the sun and the heat). Ngon is a great place. Basically a huge courtyard built around a large one room building, tables are placed strategically about, with big fans blowing mist to help keep the heat at bay. The beauty of Ngon is that all the food comes from these individual cooking stalls situated on the perimeter of the courtyard. There are tons of different selections and you just order what you want, and keep ordering for as long as you like. It’s terribly fun – and TOTALLY, SINFULLY cheap. I’ll get to that in a minute!

We sit – try to decipher the menu – which is in English, but there’s just so much we don’t know where to begin. We finally settle on Fried Chicken wings (very small portion, but very good), Grilled squid (huge portion), chicken skewer (2 – one for each of us), steamed bread with beef and onions (my choice!) and 3 beers. The food was excellent – the atmosphere fantastic – and well worth the reservations and the eating early to get a seat (no way will you get a table after 12 noon – they are packed!!!). The conversion rate in Vietnam is worth a math major – it’s 16,500 Vietnam money to $1 US. Not an easy thing to compute. So, we’re trying to add up the bill, but figure, the heck with it. Since we’re trying to conserve our US dollars for the market, we’ll pay with a credit card. No problem. Ngon takes them. We get the bill…..are you ready for this? $13.50. That’s just sick. We’re stuffed and it’s less than the price of drinks in other countries. Wow!

So, now that we’re full and contented our whirlwind tour of Saigon continues. We drive past Reunification Palace where the gates were breached by North Vietnamese tanks in the fall of Saigon, hit the Ben Thanh market where we buy Cashews and see the site where the old American Embassy was (drats! That’s the one thing I wanted to see – last chopper out and all that – yeah – it’s a hole in the ground where they are building something else), the Rex Hotel (photo op) and the Opera house. Next, we finally do visit the Emperor Jade pagoda, which is worth seeing and get a lesson in Buddhist temples.

We’re done –we’ve seen all we want and head back to ship. Since we’re so early, Kate makes an unscheduled stop at the Milk market. A big market where they sell local milk that is famous for the area. We don’t drink milk –but splurge on ice cream cones. Really good ice milk at less than 30 cents US each. Food costs….amazing. Kate gets these pancakes filled with bean curds. Not my cup of tea, but Ed manages to finish one! The market also sells all sorts of vegetables, candies, cookies and dried beef jerky – well some are beef, some is pork, and some are deer. The little pictures on the signs let us know which is which!

Next, we’re driving along and Kate has another idea – she has pointed out these “coffee shops” on the side of the highway for scooter riders to relax. Since it takes up to 3.5 hours to drive from Saigon to the beach on a scooter, all these little shops have set up on the road where you can stop and rest. She thinks it will be great to experience one – so we stop – unfortunately a little further down the road than we should – so- yeah – we back up on the highway and turn into the “shop”. These places are little more than lean to shacks with tarps strung between trees and hammocks hung all over so you can rest and nap for a while. Great pit stop! We hang out in the hammocks with all the local scooter drivers, drink coconut juice out of fresh coconuts and chat with Kate about life in Vietnam, things she’d like to do, you name it, just shooting the breeze. How fun! A totally local experience.

After our refreshing rest stop – we hopped back in the car and headed to the ship. Got back early enough that we were in time for trivia (which today was hysterically funny because we were so pathetic, all we could do was laugh). Typical evening routine – and then we dropped into bed exhausted from a very eye opening day.

So what’s my parting comment about Saigon? I can only explain the place in one word: CRAZY! It was a great day, some real adventures and sights. A look into city culture, vs. our countryside visit the day before. It’s similar, yet different. The hustle, the bustle – yet similar living conditions and business atmosphere. So many people pour into Saigon for the chance at making more money – it’s crazy crowded and insanely chaotic. Bottom line: a fantastic experience, but no way, no how could we ever stay here for any length of time. It’s just crazy to the n^th degree!