Chuc Mung Nam Moi (Happy New Year)
Trip Start
Jan 25, 2007
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9
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Trip End
Jan 25, 2008
Saigon,
Vietnam
Friday, February 16, 2007
I was told that saigon would be really busy but for new year about half the population leaves and goes back tp the countryside so it wasn't too busy on the streets.
Later on we went down towards the river to see the fireworks and it was a lot busier. Everyone was riding around on scooters and they just seemd to be going in circles. The place was absolutely mobbed and the roads were just jammed with scooters. Crossing the road was just a question of going for it and watching the drivers to make sure they would steer to avoid you.
Most of the people off the Mekong tour were in saigon so we all went down together to watch the fireworks. Some very cheap rice wine was procured and we got our second New Years celebration of the year
01
. There wasn't a countdown at midnight but there were freworks. There were tacky plastice pigs everywhere as this is the year of the pig.The next day we went to see some of the temples as we knew they would be busy for New Years day. The amount of incense was crazy and it was actually hard to breathe inside.
We also saw a pretty cool two man dragon doing some impressive acrobats.
The other sites to see in Saigon are related to the Vietnam war. The war Museum was vey interesting. I also took a trip to some underground tunnels at Cuchi but that just felt like a massive tourist trap and there were far too many people there. There were three busloads of people for our one tour guide and it was impossible to see anything.
Will leave for Dalat on Monday to do some trekking in the mountains.
