Hoi Chi Minh City or Siagon Baby

  Siagon, Vietnam
Saturday, December 18, 1999

Siagon - City Walk (1)

 

Siagon - City Walk

Siagon - City Walk (2)

Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya

I boarded the flight that would take me from Thailand to Vietnam with sadness. Why had I not stayed longer? The answer to that was my real dream was that of visiting Vietnam. It was a pity, Thailand and the Thai people were so beautiful.

This memory still remains within me and one future day I shall return to both teach and go 'walkabout'.

When I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City I joined the line at customs. I had been told what to expect but there is a difference between being told and reality. That place was like a freezer. There was no character at all. There was mainly silence. I had never experienced anything like it.

Finally I crossed the red line and was admitted into Vietnam.

After collecting my luggage I found the little man with a sign saying my name and into the city we went. I will always remember this short journey. It was one of those visual moments in life that you can never forget. Now after having traveled so many Asian countries and living in China for over a year it is all very normal.

Then it was so visually uncomprehendable.

The amount of bicycles, the amount of motor scooters, people sleeping in and on the streets, children playing on the roads, the litter, the reality of the city and its non western shops and stalls set amongst French architecture. No amount of dreaming, conversations and pictures can really prepare anyone for what reality forces upon you when you catch it.

I remember sitting in silence nearly the entire way. Was I really ready for this? I had left a more than comfortable life back in Australia to live amongst all of what I was seeing. Back then it was like leaving a comfortable area in Melbourne and moving to a very poor one horse town in rural Australia, without a pub and actually requesting to do so. It didn't take long for this idea to change.

Vietnam is this, this is Asia.

It's nothing like a small one horse town at all. It's like nothing you've ever experienced. It is nothing like home but you soon find comfort in it when it finds your heart. If you don't let it inside you will NOT enjoy your stay nor will you return. It will remain as you first saw it on your ride from the airport. You will never comprehend the warm reality of it all as you sit and complain about everything you find uncomfortable and disgusting about it.

This is a choice only you can make.

Beers N Cheers Toya...shane