Ho Chi Minh City's traffic might kill you
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
16
23
Trip End
Aug 06, 2008
Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sp, we arrived at Ho Chi Minh at 1PM and found a place to stay by 2. We were going to got to Yellow Guesthouse but it was full so we went across thr street and ended up paying less. We managed to get a triple with AC, breakfast, free internet for 6 dollars a person per night in the center of the city and backpacking area. Sweet find!
Before I go on about our adventures, I wanted to point out the madness of the traffic here. I thought Rome was bad and NCY was semibad but this is prue madness here. there are barely any lights so people just honk and go faster at intersections. Plus there are millions of scooters. 8.5 million people live here and 4 million scooters drive around the streets of the city
Cao Dai Ceremony
. It's a constant flow of scooters. No other palce in Asia so far can even get close to this. Crossing the street you have to be mentally ready and tell youself that number 1 you'll make it and number two you are in charge so they have to go around you. Once you got those 2 out of the way, then you just cross (can't wait for an opening because there are none) the street and scooters and cars literally drive 1 foot away from you front and back. Just keep you pace and you are good. Stop unexpectedly and you are screwed.So, we dropped our stuff like we always do and after finding some lunch (which ended up being some gross raw spring rolls) we went in the market for half an hour to get an idea of it and I ended up buying 3 button downs for 33 dollars total. Great quality but knowing that 2 stores next door they were 3 dollars cheaper didn't get me too excited.
After that since Shady has been to this city already, Dom and I took a cycle to tour us aroudn the city. And here is another case of the people nodding without havign a clue what you are asking. This old fallign apart guy that bycicles people around drove me Dominique and I the comlpete opposite way. Good thing he was barely breathing because he drove us 2 blocks in 10 minutes. Walking is faster and less dangerous. So I told him to stop, paid hi some pity money because I felt bad and then hopped on a motorbike which was the same price but would atually get us to the museum in time
Cao Dai Temple
! UPGRADE!This way Dom and I made it to the War Memorial Museum which was obviously bias (towards the Vietnamese of course) and was also very gruesome at times like with the exhibit where they show you what America's chemical warfare has done to locals. At one point there was a shelf with 2 fetuses in jars of deformed children. I thought that was kind of too much. Then we saw a replica of the tiger cages which was just as traumatizing.
Follwowing the museum we went Notre Dame Cathedral which is justa big church without much detail and semi-cool architecture. When you are from Rome it's not that impressive. After that we made it back, we showered, went to the night markets where Shady and Dom did some MORE damage. The problem with the evening is that there is a change of weather if I understood correctly and there is mroe flies than even motorbikes! literally at the nightmarket and at GO2 bar we were SURROUNDED by flies. They were dying everywhere, in our food, in our beer, randomly on our clothes. Very gross. SO since we went to a place where there were 2 beers for 1, we drank our first one and asked for the second one closed so we could bring it with us away from that hell-hole. Because of this bug infestation, we went to sleep at 10:30.
Next morning we woke up at 6AM, realized we messed upt he time difference with the alarm clock, woke up at 7 again, and by 8 were on a bus to the Cao Dai Temple. First stop though, as usual, they made us stop at an overpriced store where they get commission if you buy stuff. Back to the Cao Dai, it was a very cool experience; what it is, is a religion only found in Vietnam and China that includes Taoism, Buddhism, Confuciounism (?spelling?). The ceremony was just a lot of people dressed up in different color gowns bobbing their head back and forth while upstairs some local music was played and tourists took pictures of this unreal experience
Holding a pretty big snake
. The temple from outside was also very cool and colorful but it was clear that this religioa dn temple are only 80 years old as everything is very bright and new. (You can see pics of this in this blog). In case it looks hot in those pictures, it is because we were in the hottest part of Vietnam, which apparently is very close to the equator.Following this we had lunch in place that had tables up in treehouses and we enjoyed the breeze there as well as the mediocre food. After that off to see the Cu Chi tunnels wih is a series of underground tunnels about as high as halfway to my thigh where during the Vietnam war the military would hide and surprise attack the enemy. There are 200KM of these tunnels but only a part of it is open to public because believe it or not the military still ha control of them and keeps them secret in case of future use. At these Cu Chi tunnels, we went inside them and oh boy are they pitch black and tiny! 300 meters seemed like an eternity when you don't know where you are, where you are going, and have to use the flash from your camera to make sure you don't walk into the turns. Also we saw some ingenious traps made by set up by the Vietcong during the war which included face floors with 2 foot spiked underneath and other similar stuff. War here must have been the closest thing one can compare to hell.
After this we got on the bus to get home and got stuck in traffic for 2 hours
Inside Cu Chi Tunnels
. Oh, and when they advertise AC here it means semi-cool air. Once home we showered, ate, and went to Apocalypse now, a place we heard so much about. Sadly it did not live up to expectations. It was filled with creepy old men and prostitues. I guess later in the night it gets better. So we just took a cab back to our area and went to Go2 bar again. Much cooler atmosphere. By 1AM we were in bed.Next day might have truly been a day from hell. We woke up to have breakfast (oh our hotel's free breakfast was so worth waking up at 8) and by 10 we were on the road looking for Cebu. Basically we got 3 different address and the run-around until 3:30PM. Yes, all that time we were looking for CEBU's offices. The last place gave us a different address (the 4th of the day) but this time we made them call for us and we found out that CEBU didn't have offices in Ho Chi Minh anymore. Nice day wasted in Vietnam. After that we needed a pick up so we went to the markets to do some more shopping. And guess who did the damage? Shady and Dominique. I think their bag/purses count together is about 25. They are probably at 15 shirts. Dominique is at no less than 10 for jewelry accessories. My count is 2 shirts 3 button-downs and something like 6 paintings. What I will do with all these paintings no1 dares to guess.
For dinner I had a mighty good burger (hadn't had that in a while) and then some internet and bed time at midnight exhausted from walking all day looking for damn CEBU Pacific.
Next and final day in Ho Chi Minh we for a bus at 8AM for a daytrip in the Mekong Delta. Our tour operator where we bought the ticket had told us no more than 16 people per group. I guess they forgot to count all the way because there were definitely 30 people on the bus
Paddle boat on Mekong Delta
. Oh some more Vietnam cheating. I really cannot take it anymore. Whether it was at the markets, taxi drivers, Cebu, or random people, in Ho Chi Minh more than anywhere else so far I have been feeling like they really want to screw tourists over. ANd it is a horrible feeling. Plus add the horrible manners here in Vietnam where pushing and elbowing is fine, Women use they babies in the arms to get in front of you in lines, people make the grossest noises gathering up their flem so they can spit it literally in front of you. It's just too much to handle. Anyway, back to the Mekong Delta daytrip which was relaxing and cool. We went to a coconut candy farm/maker, bee island where they specialize in honey and honey tee which is amazing (until the bees around you smell the honey, then just try not to get stung), had lunch which was included but was a ball of steamed rice and a dry thin slab of pork, then unicorn island where we took row boats through it and was really cool. The picture of me with the rice-hat is while we are going on a row boat through one of the canals. Then finally we hit upa fruit farm where we enjoyed some fresh fruit (loved the dragon fruit) and some fo the most terrible singing/music playing I have ever heard. Took a video for whoever is interested. Trust me, it's worse than abd karaoke and the sad part is that they are proud of their music). Then home sweet home for a shower and a beer. Oh, and we stopped to buy DVDs. We managed to spen around 60 dollars there at one store but also got about 24 movies, and7 full packages including all seasons for a bunch of TV shows. So not a bad deal huh?The next morning we woke up early and off to Hanoi with hopes that it is much different from Ho Chi Minh.
