|
  | |  |
Vietnam - Off to Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh )
Entry 27 of 32 | show all | print this entry |
Xin chao ( Hello ) from Vietnam.We left Chau Doc, after our overnight stop here after crossing the border from Cambodia yesterday into South Vietnam, at about 09.00am. We travelled by coach in an easterley direction for about four hours and arrived in Saigon at about midday.
After visiting the relatively sparsely populated country of Australia the asian countries are quite a shock. Unbelievably Vietnam is approximately the same size of country as New Zealand, but its population is 84 million, compared to New Zealands 4 million !
We make relatively slow progress on the roads due to the volume of traffic. In Vietnam motorbikes seem to outnumber cars massively, I would say at least 20 motorbikes to every car. This is due to the high levels of taxation on cars obviously to stop this densely populated country grinding to a total stop !!
Although we did not seem to travel a great distance, the traffic was absolutely horrendous as we approached Saigon. there is a population of 5 million people, and it seems like every one owns a bloody motorbike. The roads are simply clogged, every hour seems like rush hour, until you get to rush hour and then the chaotic traffic roads become surreal.
Things you need to know about the traffic:-
- You cannot wait for their to be a gap in the traffic to cross the road, there will not be one.
- Pedestrians supposedly have right of way, so you have to just step out into the traffic. As the majority of vehicles are motorbikes they will manouvre round you.
- Do not stop suddenly, or try to run, and the motorbikes should not hit you. They are not travelling at huge speeds ( as this is not possible ! )
- Pavements are for Motorbikes to park on predominantly, you will have to walk in the side of the road. Be careful when stepping out of buildings onto the pavement, as the roads are busy the motorbikes will ride on them too if there is space.
- The above rules do not count with regard to buses. You will only step in front of them once !!!
- Everyone pips their horn at least every five seconds, this is compulsory !!!!
There are a few noticeable differences from cambodia. For a start there are actually old people, as there really does not seems to be hardly any old people about in Cambodia.
We book into out Hotel, which once again is a a pretty good standard.
The first half of our tour is now pretty much coming to an end. We have only tomorrow with our current group and Tour leader. After that two of the seven people are leaving the tour, but we gain a new Tour Leader and another 7 people to take us up to the maximum group size for this type of tour, before we continue our travels north right through the entire length of Vietnam.
We have a few hours free to ourselves this afternoon. As a group we decide we are going to go to the Sheraton Hotel's roof bar/ cocktail lounge for Happy hour. Cocktails are buy one get one free from 17.30 to 19.00 - just as well as they are US$7 a hit. i suppose that has to be expected as even in Vietnam ( which is very cheap ) it is over US $250 dollars per night to stay there.
It is still abslolutely scorching hot !! The overnight temperatures are 35 degrees C, I dread to think what they are getting up to during the day in the sun !!
Happy hour makes us all happy, and we leave there to move onto a nice restaurant where our meals and drinks average at about 3 pounds each!!
On the saturday we pretty much have a free day, but as tonight is our last night all together as a group we are all going out for a farewell dinner with our Tour Leader.
I decide to have a look round the shops in the morning, and get my eyes tested and get some glasses for about 35 pounds, and some prescription sunglasses for another fifteen.
In the afternoon I visit the war remnants museum with a couple of the others from the group. This is very interesting, there are some planes there that were left behind by the Americans at the end of the Vietnam war, lots of other exhibits including a huge photo collection, mainly of the Vietnam war, which illustrate graphically some of the horrors that were encountered. I suspect that there is a lot of government propaganda in play here as the Khmer Rouge hardly get a mention, and there is certainly no attempt to offer any balance. It has made me resolve to read up more about this, to try and get a better view of exactly what did happen.
Once again we have a good meal out in the evening, with quite a few drinks. We officially start the second part of our tour at 18.00 tomorrow.
The next day the whole of our existing group decides to go and visit the Royal Palace in the afternoon when it re-opens at 14.00. Our timing proves to be a big mistake, as the thermometers are hitting 45 degrees celcius this afternoon, and we are all lelting in the heat !!! Although this is a fabulously large and impressive building with an array of jewels and artefacts to look at, the highlight is a visit to the Elephant room as the air conditioning is fabulously cold. We spend more time huddled round this than we do looking at any of the other exhibits!!
Those of us that are continuing with the tour through Vietnam meet back at the hotel at 18.00. We meet up with our new Tour Leader who is called Hong. He is a Vietnamese guy. We meet the seven new people joing our group. They consist of 1 english girl, 4 australians and 2 canadians living in Australia. We have a welcome meeting and have our itinerary explained to us for the next 9 days. We then go out for a meal all together, but arranged to meet Kate and Tara ( the two girls leaving our tour ) later in the evening.
the restaurant we go to tonight is typical local Vietnamese. It is the cheapest place we have eaten in yet. I can now start to see that there may be some real perks by having a local guide working in his own country.....
Where I stayed:
Sen Hotel, Saigon
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Vietnam or try a new search. |
| |
| Table of Contents |
| 27. | Vietnam - Off to Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh ) - Saigon, Vietnam Apr 14, 2008 |
|
|
|
|
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
