On To Saigon Or Whatever It’s Called
Day 35 of this trip and we cop out for the first time. Up until tonight it’s been local food all the way….Indian, Nepalese and Vietnamese dishes, local specialities, street food, even a frog on a stick for God’s sake. But Can Tho is different: the restaurants aren’t quite as inviting, the atmosphere is less accessible, and the street food we’ve tried is unpopular with locals and close to inedible. So we cop out and find an “ordinary” restaurant, The Lighthouse, which, perish the thought, does steaks and stuff.
For the first time since we entered the country, we eat some non-Vietnamese food: Michaela’s is a French dish, mine Belgian. In truth, the food is nothing special, but how good is it to knock back a decent bottle of Malbec: it’s like putting our own blood back in our starved veins.
Can Tho, as we said in our last post, doesn’t have much to offer, and filling our last day here is piecemeal, despite enjoying the best sunshine since our arrival. We embrace a couple of interesting temples, and the Kham Lon Prison which, like the Hanoi Hilton, has a history of brutal treatment of political dissidents by the French during the colonial era. It’s presented in a gratuitously blatant style, mannequins of suffering prisoners displaying despair, dismay and evidence of physical abuse: black eyes, bruised faces, bleeding wounds…. and pleading faces. It unreservedly hammers home its message.
One of the regular architectural features of this journey through Vietnam has been the oddly narrow yet tall buildings, often five or six storeys high but only one room wide. They appear strange, like oversized Lego towers. Asking about this, we find that the very logical explanation is that land is expensive, but building materials are not – hence it’s much cheaper to build upwards rather than outwards. Cheaper to build out over the water, too.
And so we head to our final destination in Vietnam, the city with two names – Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon. The new name was forced upon the reluctant Saigonese upon unification in 1976, but despite the old name being officially dropped, and in some cases barred, the change has not been implemented universally. Every time we have heard the city mentioned, it’s been referred to as Saigon; the airport code is SGN, the railway station is “Saigon”, the city sits on the Saigon River, the newspaper is the Saigon Times and even the official tourist agency is Saigon Tourist. And with apologies to Uncle Ho and his followers, you have to admit that “Saigon” has far more romance attached to it than “Ho Chi Minh City”.
Sleeping buses are brilliant. This time we’re in the more comfortable side beds, and once we’re in our respective capsules, we have room, comfort and private space as we watch the world pass by the window. If you’re thinking of travelling Vietnam, don’t ignore these sleeping buses, they are their own kind of luxury, and incredibly good value for money – about £6 each for a relaxing 4-hour journey.
While Michaela gets to work on the blog and on Saigon research, I just whack on the headphones and lose myself in a world of shuffle as Vietnam rolls by. Paul Weller barks 80s angst at the rice fields, a Child Of The Universe joins me as we cross the wide rivers, ZZ Top want someone to give them all their lovin’, Dusty Springfield laments that her lover has no heart. Just as Roseanne Cash tells me that our love has become a runaway train, I sense the AC go off, which usually signals an imminent comfort break. We pull over.
There’s an announcement by the driver In indecipherable Vietnamese, and chatter amongst our fellow passengers. What needs no translation at all is the sight of our driver carrying three things past my window – an oily rag, a spanner and a deep frown. There’s clearly an issue. After a bit of twiddling he manfully limps his big bus to the next service station where a team of grimy but smiling mechanics are waiting, eager to help us on our way. In the end we’re only delayed by about 45 minutes before we’re back on the highway heading for …. errr….Ho Chi Minh City according to the road signs, Saigon according to our tickets.
Once we’re inside this instantly appealing city, the biggest city in Vietnam despite not being the capital, it’s “Saigon” everywhere, the only mention of HCMC is on the uniforms of policemen and municipal workers. Our journey through Vietnam has thrown up an amazing variety of destinations but with one unchanging constant: mopeds. Until you come to Vietnam you just cannot imagine the two-wheeled armada which greets you at every road crossing – it’s absolutely unbelievable. In fact, someone earlier on this trip told us that there are five motor bikes for every household in the entire country, something we can easily believe.
Central to Saigon’s pride is the Independence Palace, once the seat of French colonial Government, then the home base of the South Vietnam ruling family before their overthrow and murder. The original palace was destroyed by American bombing and rebuilt in the 1960s, and somehow the architects have managed to encapsulate everything bad about 60s design: the outside looks like a huge Holiday Inn, the interior more like a polytechnic or private hospital. It’s a charmlessly clinical place, ill befitting of the name “palace”.
Saigon is a city with an intensely troubled history, ravaged by Civil War, divided by politics and flattened by bombs, yet its contemporary version of itself is utterly joyous. This is a bold, cosmopolitan, internationally flavoured city with a modern look and a bustling, fast moving personality. It feels uplifting from the very first moment we jink and swerve our way through the moped armada.
The ancient and historic central market, Ben Thanh, still bustles and buzzes with activity, the streets throb with life day and night, green spaces fill with people. Grand buildings from the French colonial era strut with pride, sweeping boulevards form causeways between the back street districts, huge swanky skyscrapers look down on the busy streets, gleaming modern shopping malls are home to the best designer shops. Saigon is every inch the modern, vibrant metropolis where every moment carries the vibe of a capital city, even if it isn’t one. It’s brilliant, in short.
Cultures and histories mix deliciously. Coffee bars serve baguettes and croissants; bahn mi stalls are at every corner; for every designer store there are dozens of street peddlers. Bowls of pho and bun bo are scoffed on every pavement, yet pizza and pasta houses are busy, locals fill the Starbucks near the market. It’s definitely Vietnam, it’s definitely Asia…but this is a modern international city bursting with worldly wisdom and self belief. That alone makes Saigon wonderful, given its 20th century traumas.
Saigon certainly has its party side too: Bui Vien is Saigon’s answer to Bangkok’s Khao San Road, a relentless, electrifying club street where the party is already well underway by 8pm. We throw ourselves in, hoping not to feel too old… and then get trapped there when torrential rain sets in as the evening unfolds. To our delight, even here amongst the revelry, the hedonism and the podium dancers, amongst the tiny mini skirts and the hip swivelling male dancers, amongst the pounding beats and the relentless street vendors…..the food is fantastic.
And so for the next couple of hours we have no option but to drink copious amounts of beer, eat fabulous food and watch dancers and fire eaters.
Travelling can be so tough sometimes.
24 Comments
Alison
What a fantastic trip you’re having. We haven’t been to Saigon for many years, maybe after reading your post we will have to go back. Did you make a visit to The Caravelle, lovely rooftop garden where the foreign correspondents used to go.
The bus sounded fun apart from the breakdown.
Phil & Michaela
Didn’t hear or read anything about the Caravelle, maybe we missed something. Loved Saigon though, great city.
WanderingCanadians
The sleeping bus actually looks pretty legit (minus the delay). It’s always interesting to see how different a city can look at night compared to the day. With all those bright, colourful lights, it certainly looks like Saigon has a vibrant nightlife scene. It seems only reasonable to partake in trying the food (and drinks) and enjoying the entertainment to get the full experience!
Phil & Michaela
Absolutely right! We recommend the sleeping buses to everyone, they are a great way to travel!
Andrew Petcher
The prison tour is a bit raw. I visited somewhere similar in Cyprus which bigged up on British brutality in the 1950s. Quite similar.
The rain picture is spectacular.
Phil & Michaela
Wait till you see our next post, Andrew, truly heartbreaking. Funny you should mention Cyprus, one of my more disturbing travel experiences. Went on a trip with a local boat tour operator, just after 9/11. As soon as we were out at sea, he started, with great aggression and real hatred, pointing at us all and saying…”Bin Laden is just what the world needs. We need more people willing to wipe out people with your values. We need a hundred more days like 9/11”. Not a comfortable day trip…
Andrew Petcher
In Cyprus they have real issues with the British for sure.
wetanddustyroads
I have to agree, those sleeping buses look like the perfect means of transportation in Vietnam! The cafes in old apartments are an interesting picture, as is the Pink Church with the little flags. Saigon certainly seems to know how to please a world traveller – something for everyone.
Phil & Michaela
Brilliant city, seriously! But yes…if you do Vietnam, then do the sleeping buses, so good!
Monkey's Tale
We were also told that homeowners pay taxes based on width of the lot not length or number of stories in the building. We didn’t spend much time in Saigon, love your pictures of the night lights. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
Oh Maggie , Saigon is so good. Loved it!
Mike and Kellye Hefner
I am so glad you guys are getting to visit these fabulous places because you always share them so beautifully with us! Now I’m dying to visit Viet Nam.
Toonsarah
We didn’t spend as long in Saigon as we maybe should have, but I did warm to the city, although not as much as Hanoi. We didn’t discover that vibrant nightlife but we did find a great microbrewery and social conscience restaurant. As for the mopeds, this was the only Vietnamese city where we found them mounting the pavements to dodge the red lights – very unnerving!
Phil & Michaela
Yep, we saw riders do that too! It’s a very welcoming city, really enjoyed our short time there…..although we did “do” the dark side, the war history. In our next post. Very very disturbing.
Toonsarah
Yes, we did that too – quite a contrast to exploring the more modern side to it, and also to the old temples
leightontravels
You can be forgiven for only having one ‘cop out’ meal on a trip of this length, methinks. I love the headphones music on the bus vibe, I have similar memories of doing just that countless times over the years. Saigon is a cool city for sure, though admittedly it didn’t capture my heart like Hanoi did. I enjoyed retracing my steps through your visits to Reunification Palace and Bui Vien Street. I stayed in an alleyway just off the street and arrived in a similarly almighty downpour that left cars stranded in the middle of the road.
Phil & Michaela
Ha, I so hoped you would pick up on the music thing…it’s inseparable from travel when you’re a music fan, isn’t it. I think Saigon actually edged out Hanoi for us…but, frankly, they’re both fantastic.
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Great information. What, no rats? 😃
grandmisadventures
Great post about Saigon- seems like the kind of place that you can’t help but want to dive in and be part of that energy and vibrancy 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Exactly right!
Lookoom
I am impressed by the size and modernity of the high rise design, let’s hope that progress spreads better among the population. I like the last image of the rain falling, great shot!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you!
Annie Berger
Wish we had your sense of adventure, Phil, as I can’t imagine we’d have joined the revelry, the dancers, and drinking the beer until the storm dies down. Sometimes we need a kick in the pants to do something outside of our comfort zone! We’ll remember that when we get back on the road again.
Loved Michaela’s photos and especially the people under the umbrella in the pouring rain. That’s a standout.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Annie, yes we really like that photo too. It’s always great to lose yourself in the things which the locals love to do. It was fun to be in that street just for an evening.