Saigon and Submarines, Vietnam Adventure, Part 5

The winding alleyways are the best places to find Saigon culture.

Ho Chi Minh City: Been there, seen there, done that.

It took about 12 hours, or maybe less, to get from Nha Trang to the heart of Saigon and the first thing that hits you when you get off the air conditioned train is the sweltering heat. The heat in Saigon was honestly quite sickening. I was forced to wear the bare minimum of clothing to keep from being cooked alive.

Before arriving to Vietnam, I was stoked about staying in Saigon, hoping that spending about a week there would make me happy. But Saigon was my least favourite part of Vietnam. Ill admit, its a great city, but one that can drive you crazy with the noise and the interruptions. Try sitting down in front of your guest house in the morning, sipping on some ice cold Vietnamese coffee on a tiny plastic stool while writing postcards to friends back home...its an utterly impossible task because you'll soon be bombarded by locals trying to sell you stuff like fruit, gum, sunglasses, more postcards, paintings, pedicures, anything you can imagine. And the same people come up to you over and over again. Its hard not to get angry because you understand there is a desperation behind their need to sell. But trying to keep your cool in 30 degree heat is also a desperation.


Yup, that's a caged monkey. He was eating a bunch of bananas, focused entirely on the task, so that when I approached him he gave me an awful look and faked jumping forward to assault me.



I spent the days walking around and going shopping at the marketplace, eating Saigon delicacies (I had the best dinner my first night there of delicious fish and soup and seafood), wandering the intricate alleyways where you can easily lose your way. I found myself going on a motorbike tour with my cousin and then to the War Museum. It was nice, but after the first couple days, I wanted some peace and a little quiet. I wanted to claim Saigon as my own, like I did in Vinh, Hue, and in Nha Trang, but clearly this was not to happen in the overcrowded streets. Saigon belonged to everyone and there was no small deposit of it that I could have made mine. I stayed at about three different guesthouses on the main tourist strip, and then two nights at my cousin's house in a alleyway neighbourhood about 30 minutes away.



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The best part of Saigon to me were the Vietnamese subs. Every morning I would wake up, walk five minutes from my guest house to this outdoor stand, buy a sub and order a freshly made fruit shake (mango, avocado, sour sop, etc) and sit in the park and eat. It was like heaven in my mouth. Its hard to find good bread in Korea...they don't have ovens, so having a real baguette, hard and crunchy on the outside and soft flaky deliciousness on the inside...and then a refreshing real fruit shake...all for 20,000 dong, the equivalent of 1.00$ CDN.

Vietnam sub and mango shake.

Vietnam sub and soursop shake.
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But on the fifth morning, that naseating feeling was stronger than ever so I awoke at 5am and bought a bus ticket for one to Cambodia, the Kingom of Wonder.

A friend I met on my first night in Hue and later again, out of nowhere, I spotted her walking down the street in Saigon.