2/1 Saigon…oh my…the madness begins

5:15 am – in the cab to the airport in Chiang Mai – our relaxing Thai experience has ended  and we are off to the madness adventure of Vietnam.  Airport – smooth as silk – checked in all the way to Saigon (bags that is), on the plane, take off and land on time – transfer through Bangkok without a fuss – until we get to the gate for Saigon where for some reason they take our passports and tell us to wait on the side while they do something. Don’t know what – but after about 10 minutes of computer input, we’re waived through…ok….

Land in Saigon (oh, ok, so now it’s called Ho Chi Minh city, but you know?  It will always be Saigon to us – so whatever!), head to passport control, with our e-visa.  Uh, duh, had to go to the Landing Visa window that was really hidden in the corner.  So – stand in line for the immigration guy to tell us to go to the Landing Visa window, stand in line to get the visa – which honestly only took maybe 5 minutes once we got there!  $50US dollars poorer and we’ve got our visas.  Back in line – we swear they see us coming. Every line we get in, something happens ahead of us so that everyone, and I mean, everyone on our plane and probably 3 other planes, gets through the damn immigration before us.  Frustrating!

Finally done with that nonsense, we head to baggage, pick up our bags (yay, relief!), and head to find our driver.  He’s right where he’s supposed to be and off we go – oh dear – let the madness begin.  Scooters, bikes, cars, pedestrians, we skirt them all – this place is indescribable!  The ride alone is worth the price of admission (oh, btw, $14US – no comment!). 1/2 hour later, and how many just misses I don’t know, we pull up in this street and the driver gets out. Ed and I look around – do you see the hotel? No, do you ?No?  Oy~!  We forgot it’s down an alley!  Thankfully coz it’s quiet!  The driver takes us there and we’re welcomed an escorted to our 2nd floor (3rd really) room – facing the alley, no elevator, but it’s blissfully cool and quiet.  yay!

Out we go….ATM – make the zero mistake – only get 20,000 dong which is like $10US.  Crap. The zeros will kill me!  But we know we can use dollars, so we wander through the streets checking out the bars, the mini-marts, the spas (oh jeez, $3 US for mani and pedi? no freaking way!!!), the restaurants. remember the zeros – and of course the madness.  This is like a movie – there is no explanation – I’m trying to take pix – but you just have to be here.  Scooters every where, and I mean every where. Carrying everything – people (4 to a scooter), appliances (yep, we saw an air conditioner go by), supplies, you name it. Constant. Cacophony. Wildness!  It’s amazing.  We stop at Zoom – at the corner of a major intersection and just watch the world go by – while drinking Saigon beer and wine…yes wine!  Oh TOTAL yay!  Vietnamese wine – and its actually quite good and of course quite cheap!  $1.50 per glass.  Triple yay!

We’re totally besieged by street vendors.  A sunglass guy comes up and after maybe 1/2 an hour we finally end up with a wild pair of glasses for Ed - $7US – their unbreakable, unscratchable – and look totally awesome!   Then the book sellers come up – they are carrying like 30 books all stacked up – all English – selling them for $9US each. Really? No way!  I show her my phone and the kindle books for free = end of discussion.  But honestly – those things must be totally heavy!  And they are all counterfeit for sure.  Saigon. Madness. 

Back at the hotel, we manage to organize a tour to the Mekong Delta tomorrow – overnight – negotiate for A/C room - $3US extra.  Sigh, oh well, ok.  That will be so fun – the floating markets.  Cool!

But now, back out on the streets – at night its even more amazing.  I forgot the camera, so when we come back on Saturday we’re taking videos of it all, because it’s the only way to really understand it!

Dinner- SaSa (it’s a hotel/tour agency/restaurant!).  Pho – so darn good – noodles, beef, bean sprouts, just too good. And oh my, grapefruit salad with shrimp, chicken and peanuts.  The grapefruit is so sweet and silky, not so citrusy that it overpowers the rest of the dish. It is amazing!  2 beers (big) and 2 sauvignon blancs (Chilean, not Vietnamese) and we’re done – for 219,000 Dong or $11 US at a pretty bad exchange rate.  And we thought Thailand was cheap…wow!

Last stop – the Lucky 7 bar – we sit outside and just watch the scooters, people, and world rush by us in a kaleidoscope of sounds, colors and images.  A couple of beers and wines and we’re ready to hit the hay for our Mekong Delta adventure tomorrow.  Wow.  Overused, but totally appropriate!