So this is communism?

• Adamandeva's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

Trip Start Feb 26, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End Sep 16, 2006 Next
Entry

  Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam
Friday, May 26, 2006

I'm a bit confused by all of this. What's with all the lights? The hustle? The gigantic neon Hyundai advertisement on the side of the skyscraper? Is that a red and yellow hammer-and-sickle flag on that lamppost?

First let's erase all those cold-war stereotypes from your head.

Here in Ho Chi Minh City (the pre-war name was Saigon), there are no squat concrete buildings, boiled potatoes and elderly babushka-wearing women trudging through hip-deep snow drifts.

What you do find is that most people have enough food to eat. There are no mile-long lines outside of the McDonalds. (Oh wait, there aren't any McDonald's..

Ben Thanh Market

. but there's a KFC, and no lines there.) Everyone seems to be an entrepreneur... selling something, anything-- be it food, knicknacks, streetside massage, shoes and clothing. Many of the buildings are French designed, with arches and beautiful tall windows. You can buy incredibly delicious, freshly brewed (and strong!) coffee on every corner for about 50 cents. Fresh baguettes are everywhere.

Welcome to the contradictory face of modern communism.

We are immediately impressed by the palpable presence of a country with a real infrastructure. This is still a developing country with problems as such, but now that we've been here we will never make the mistake of lumping all of the third world countries together as if they all are fishing out the same problems from a communal lot. Were I forced to make a choice, I'd be Vietnamese over Cambodian-- hands down, game over, no contest. The people here are happier, more optimistic. Still likely to rip you off for being a foreigner, but that's part and parcel of the southeast Asia experience.

We stayed with a delightful woman named Allyson, an english teaching Aussie expat and hosptialityclub.org member who shared her beautiful townhome with us for upwards of a week. She was a fantastic host and was great company, providing us with the kind of detailed and quirky perspective that you can only get from a western expat living outside the bounds of conventional western society.

Thanks again Allyson!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Cholon - 01 Binh Tay Market	Cholon - 01 Binh Tay Market - cinamon shopping	Cholon - 01 Binh Tay Market - food vendor	Cholon - 01 Binh Tay Market - lunch
Cholon - 01 Binh Tay Market - vegetable stands	Cholon - 02 Cha Tam Church - 1 outside	Cholon - 02 Cha Tam Church - 2 inside	Cholon - 02 Cha Tam Church - 3 scary bird
Cholon - 02 Cha Tam Church - 4	Cholon - 03 Ong Bon Pagoda - dragon colum	Cholon - 03 Ong Bon Pagoda - gold carving	Cholon - 03 Ong Bon Pagoda - incense holder
Cholon - 03 Ong Bon Pagoda - woman pray	Cholon - 04 Phung son Pagoda - ceramic bird	Cholon - 04 Phung son Pagoda - wood carving drum	Cholon - 04 Phung son Pagoda - wood carving weapon
Cholon - 05 Quan Am Pagoda 01	Cholon - 05 Quan Am Pagoda 02roof	Cholon - 05 Quan Am Pagoda 03 front door	Cholon - 06 Thien Hau Pagoda - roof top story
Cholon - 07 mosque	first coffee taste in Pho 2000	food - Bun Bo	food - coconut icecream
Mariamman Hindu Temple	Notre dame Cathedral	People's committe building	People's committe building 02
Post office - 01 outside	Post office - 02 entrance	Post office - 04 Uncle Ho's smile	Rex Hotel roof garden
saigon sky	Tran Nguyen Hai statue	War Remnants Museum 01 outside	War Remnants Museum 02 front
War Remnants Museum 03 display	War Remnants Museum 04 close up	War Remnants Museum 05 picture	War Remnants Museum 06 description
War Remnants Museum 07 horrible picture	War Remnants Museum 08	War Remnants Museum 09	War Remnants Museum 10
War Remnants Museum 11	War Remnants Museum 12 replica prison	War Remnants Museum 13 replica prison	War Remnants Museum 14 people's comment
Xa Loi Pagoda

Slideshow Print this entry Share Hanoi hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry