The drug that is Ho Chi Minh City

Hello to everyone from Vietnam,

Our flight went well. My (Lauren) ears didn't play up at all which was a big relief. Plus both of us managed to sleep most of the way to Kuala Lumpur which was also a big relief as we were both exhausted.

After a couple of hours stop over in KL we were on our way to Ho Chi Minh City. It was only an 1.5 hour flight so it went really quick.... plus we met a Guy from Penang on the plane so we spent most of the time talking to him.

As soon as we landed in HCMC we could already see remnants of the war. As we were taxiing to the terminal gate we went past old army plane hangers which still had rusty guns mounted to them, we knew straight away this would be a trip we would never forget...

And so it has been (only so far)! Our expectations of our first stop and Vietnam's second largest but arguably most definitive city were effectively eaten and swallowed, spewed up, consumed again then coughed up with the furball that was our naivety of this up and coming metropolis (our experience with Kuala Lumpur and its progression to westernisation presumedly caused this). I've (Kristian) decided only after a day in the city of Ho Chi Minh, that in all its craziness and glory it resembles somewhat that of a drug addiction. Let me explain, first you get your fix from the hilairiousness of some of the calamities the locals face when transporting goods on motorbikes/scooters rangeing from 5m high boxes to babies and whole flower shops. One of the biggest highs is the rush you get when crossing the road dominated by around 30 bikes, buses and (expensive) cars. That swift feeling when a motorbike brushes your arm as you feel the driver breathing down your neck is beyond anything normal.

At this point life is pretty good, adding to the fact that we are literally millionaires with just over a million dong to spend each day, everything in this city is within easy reach. For example a simple trip to the grocery store for bottles of water, ice tea, apple juice, cookies and chips costing no more than than 40,000 dong ($2) considering we had budgetted over a million.

So I bet your wondering when the downfall and great lows of the addiction to Ho Chi Minh? Here it comes, while the city oozes soul and character, it lacks in substance (apart from the abundance of war montages). While the cyclo people with their bikes might seem to mean well when helping you across the hectic roads, they will guilt you into a free trip and drop you off at "the best Vietnamese restaurant" in HCMC. after painfully backtracking, you find quite a few people stare at you because there is very little tourism in Most parts of the city thus your the odd one out. While the cyclos claim they know the best restaurant (ignoring the fact its a shed with plastic kiddie seats) they are probably right. There are no, and I mean no proper restaurants around the city area! We searched hours just for a nice place to sit and have a drink and a snack and ended up at a nice bakery (thank you french colonization).

However all this aside, everyone is very nice. Just random strangers helping you across the street and asking where your from to really friendly (and well spoken) hotel staff.
Also a big relief is that our tickets for the next 3 train journeys arrived in the afternoon which you would understand is a Big releif as we booked them over 3 months ago (no ticket means no next destination and no beach and theme Parks!).

Overall it has been a pretty good day (seen as though we are pretty tired and agitated). In the end the cyclos were an experience, sitting in the middle of an intersection gives you a feeling you have to experience to believe (the kind if high I described before).

I was just about to finish up but I forgot to mention the market, well what can you say, its called Ben Thanh market and it is of epic proportions! It covers about 12 blocks and ranges from souvenirs to fish guts on display to all (simmering in the 33° degree heat, lovely hey). We havnt had a chance to have a proper look but we will get round to it tomorrow.

Well I think that's about all for today so make sure you leave a comment if you wanted to ask anything as its easier than email. Well everybody stay safe and that's it for another full on day.
Speak later, stay well.
Kristian & Lauren.

P.s. again like the blog before this, I've written this on my phone so I have limited edifying capabilities so I do apologise for any (or many) errors you may find!