Ho Chi Minh City

Day 8 – Monday 23rd of February – Hoi An, Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Photos from Ho Chi Minh City

Once again, my flight was quite early, so Alex, Caitlin and I took a private taxi, organized by the Hotel to Da Nang Airport, about 45 minutes from Hoi An. We checked in without any problems, and quickly found that the airport had very little food, only Pringles and soft drinks. It was a very strange place; all the seats faced forward, they several LCD screens playing advert loops, and snippets of random Disney Pixar movies, and no food available, apart from Pringles, water and soft drink. We decided it was Pringles, and water for breakfast.

The flight was okay by Jetstar pacific standards. The plane was an old Boeing 737 and didn’t feel like it was going to fall apart. I had found out from Alex and Caitlin that Jetstar had brought the local carrier, Pacific Airlines, and had re-livered the old planes, with the intention to replace them with older of Jetstar Australia’s fleet, so when you fly Jetstar Pacific, its kind of pot luck as to how safe the plane is.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh, and even though we had all been there before, it took us surprising amount of time to see anything we recognized. We hadn’t booked accommodation and instead headed for the Backpacker district. After inspecting about 3-4 places, we decided to go with a hotel that was highly recommended online, An An 2 Hotel. We checked in, and had a bit of a chillout for most of the morning. I took the opportunity to nurse my sever sunburn, and lie on my stomach.

At about 1, we decided to have a look around the Benh Tanh Markets, a large market complex that houses just about anything you want / need. Despite being a visitor before in Ho Chi Minh City, I was still taken aback by the organized chaos that is the city traffic. I am a veteran of Vietnam road crossings, but it still took an adjustment of the nerves. Caitlin and Alex did some last minute present buying, and I set out to find a long sleeved shirt, to prevent anymore damage to my sunburn. On the way back to the hotel, I was quite amused by a dance / exersize session going on in the park across from the markets, see the picture below.

Thanks to the free WiFi, I was able to have a Skype conversation with the family back home. It was good to get the updates and hear about Bridget’s drunken O Week. I tried to catch up on my blog writing, but was unsuccessful, due to the amazing amount of time you can waste whilst on the net. If anyone would like to add me on skype, my username is Geordie-barker. Remember that there is a 4 hour time difference between Australia and where I am at, so when it is 6pm in Aus, its 2pm here, so you may find that I am not always online when you are.

We headed back to the markets to grab some dinner. The streets surrounding the markets transform once peak hour has dispersed, and market stalls, marquees and kitchens suddenly take up the road space. There is a great deal of good, cheap local food on offer, and even cheaper beer, but alas it is sometime not always cold as Caitlin found out. I experienced Bun, a mix of meats (shrimp, beef, pork and chicken) with noodles and a gravy style sauce.

I really do love Vietnam; its hectic traffic, its tasty food, cheap beer, smiling locals and unique bad smells. Its mix of architecture and history makes it a varying landscape. Looking at Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, you could swear they were in different countries. There is something that makes Vietnam seem more homely, and inviting. For me, time spent in the heart of Footscray and Collingwood has sort of prepared me for it, but I think there is one main difference between Vietnam other Asian tourist destinations. It is the concentration of tourists. You always see westerners, but you never feel like you are part of the tourist trail. There are western tourist areas, but you can walk two block and be surrounded by the locals. I like that in a destination, because I don’t visit other countries to see the sights, I visit to see the culture.

Till next time!

Day 9 – Tuesday 24th of February – An An 2 Hotel – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Alex and Caitlin were leaving on a flight in the late afternoon. They were headed to Singapore before returning home. I joined them for some last minute shopping in and around the tourist district, then saw them off from the Hotel. After they had left, I decided it was a perfect time for some people watching and a bit of alone time. I headed towards the Ben Tanh markets, to where I had spotted a Bubble Tea store.

Now for those of you not in the know, Bubble Tea is an Asian phenomenon, originally created in Taiwan, and quickly migrating to New York City and around the world. It involves the creation of a usually chilled drink from a mixture of different syrups and teas, always chilled and usually mixed or crushed with ice. It also includes the addition of a series of jelly style mixers, the most popular of which is Pearls. Pearls are little marble sized black balls of firm jelly, that are relatively tasteless and very chewy. Each drink is served in a plastic cup and sealed by a special machine with a plastic film over the top, to make it airtight. The straws used are fat, just big enough to allow you to suck up the pearls or other jellies. To get the cup open, the straw has a slightly slanted tip, and with a quick stabbing motion, you break the straw through the film and into the cup. This ensures that the cup doesn’t spill its contents everywhere. There are three main types of Bubble Tea, Crushed Ice, Blended Ice, and Red or Green Tea. My usual favorites are Mango Curshed Ice, Honeydew Red Tea, and Peach Blended Ice, all with pearls.

Right, now you have been worded up about Bubble Tea, I can continue. The staff in the store found it very amusing that I would want, let alone know what Bubble Tea was. They took a photo of me, and I of them. I wondered down to the park bordering the marketplace round about and settled in, watching the world go by. It was school finishing time, and as such, the street was filled with kids in uniforms and parents on bikes picking them up. The school uniform in Vietnam is quite interesting. It is a traditional white dress, ankle length usually with long sleeves. Although it is designed to be conservative, the material is quite thin, and the dress features a slit up to the hip on one side.

I had to head back to the Hotel as I was meeting Hai Anh, an old Uni High friend to go to dinner with her and her fiancé. Hai Anh lived in Australia from about the middle of Primary School, as her mum was lecturing at a University in Melbourne. She was at Uni High until the end of year 8, when she moved back to Vietnam where she has lived since. I had got into contact with her through the wonders of Facebook, and she had urged me to let her know when I was in town.

She arrived at about 8, with her fiancé Dùng and we headed to a local place to have some good Eastern food. They both ordered a number of things and I promised that I was up for anything. There wasn’t anything amazingly weird, except snails, which I tried and quite liked. The texture is quite slimy, but the sauce that accompanies them is awesome. They taste a bit like chicken! It was great to catch up and share the info on what people were up to and how things had changed at the school. She also filled me in on what she was up to in Vietnam. I talked about my trip so far and how I loved the local food, especially the spring rolls. Dùng cottoned on, and ordered me a plate which was so nice. He is really friendly and always smiling. They are getting married in August and are both really happy. It was lovely to meet him and see them together.

Hai Anh works as a teacher at an international school and is also studying at Uni to become a teacher, but due to it being a Wednesday, she had work at 7am the next morning, so we called it an evening and she promised to see me before I left. I decided the night was still young and headed out to see what was happening and perhaps have one more beer. I was coerced into the local tourist hang out, Go2, by streetside promoters, “Happy Hour all night”. On my way to the rooftop bar, I ran into the two boys from Sydney that I had met at the Beach Party in Hoi An. It was pretty amusing, small world huh? They convinced me to follow them to their next port of call Rendezvous Bar, on the next corner.

There I also met with a guy from Adelaide, who was also at the Beach Party. I had found a photo of him and I, alongside some very attractive Norweigen girls from the night of the Beach Party. Rendezvous was pretty scummy and we were particularly amused by the three local girls sitting at the bar, looking bored. The three Australians were on a tour, and their local tour guide was along for the session with them. He informed us that the girls there, were called Chickens… or hookers. We left pretty quickly, but on the way out ran into a bunch of Canadian girls, and asked where they were headed. They didn’t really know, but there were some murmurs of a club called Apocalypse Now. After a random argument, we all pilled into two cabs and headed that way.

Although quite inappropriately named, Apocalypse Now looked okay from the outside, it was only once we were inside that we realized what kind of an establishment we were in. The beers started in price at 50,000 VND ($4.80AU), for 333 or Tiger in a 300ml can. The music was commercial Top 40, and it was loud. We danced for a while and admittedly the music was quite good. It was Yun, the local guide who raised the alarm for us, he leaned over and said, ‘many, many chickens here’. Then upon closer inspection, the whole place was filled with middle aged white men, with small Vietnamese girls under their arms. After the music got crappy, we departed, and decided to call it a night. The boys were off to Cambodia in the morning, and needed their 3 hours sleep. I headed back to my hotel, avoiding the offers of Marijuana and pretty girls from shady motorbike riding men.

Day 10 – Wednesday 25th of February – Orient Hotel – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I woke up in the morning to my phone ringing in my room. I had been called the day before by some dude in room 610 wanting to make an international call, so I chose to ignore it. It was when it rang a second time that I picked it up. It was reception, informing me that they were full and that I would need to leave by 12. It was 11:45, I told them that that wasn’t possible and I would be down as soon as possible. I was a little dehydrated but not massively hung over. I reluctantly packed by bags and headed for the Orient Hotel, just on the next corner, ‘same same’ was the description from the An An Receptionist.

Hai Anh had mentioned that I should check out this temple about 30km out of town, so I decided to have a crack. I asked the Hotel staff and they told me it wasn’t possible to get there unless I took a taxi. I want too keen on paying US$50 to get there, so I headed for the bus station. I asked at a few counters, until eventually a lady wrote a bus number on a card for me, and so I joined the locals and waited. I waited for about an hour with no 616 bus in sight, eventually one arrived, with an English speaking driver who informed me that he was the last run out there and that I would get about 20 minutes there after sitting on the bus for over an hour each way. I declined and headed out for some more people watching.

I grabbed another Honeydew Milk Tea Bubble Cup, and positioned myself on the corner of the large round about in front of the markets. I took photos for about an hour. I got some amazing shots of the locals just riding by. They seemed to be interested in me taking photos of the traffic and a lot of them looked at me and smiled as they passed. I even got a few ‘Yo’s and ‘Hello’s from a few of the younger riders. I am hoping to make a collection of these shots available as I think they capture some of the character of the Vietnamese people.

I ended up spending most of the afternoon just wandering around. I some dinner at the local Pho 24, a famous chain of restaurants serving the Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soup as I felt the need for some local cuisine on my last day in Vietnam. On my way back to the Hostel, I ran into a girl I had met in Hanoi. She had been part of a little cohort of 8 or so that experienced Pho for the first time. She was drinking with a large group she had met on the train and invited me to join them. I ended up chatting to a few people, including a couple from Perth and a guy from the UK. I wasn’t in the party mood, as we had had a pretty big one the night before, so I retired to my new hotel for some rest.

I leave Vietnam tomorrow to head to Bangkok, Thailand. I will miss Vietnam, but I am looking forward to some nice sunny beaches and good Thai food. Hope everyone is well, please feel free to email me any news, no matter how small.

Cheers,
Geordie

Day 11 – Thursday 26th of February – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Bangkok, Thailand

Hai Anh rang me in the morning and asked whether I had left yet. She was skipping Uni, and wanted to know if I wanted to do lunch. I agreed excitedly and went about checking out of my hotel.

She picked me up on her bike, and we headed out of town, riding for about fifteen minutes. Riding on the back of the bike was awesome fun. I had really wanted to hire a bike in Hoi An, but unfortunately due to me not having a motorcycle license in Australia, my travel insurance wouldn’t cover any damages. We were heading for the rich district of town, where there were a number of large compounds housing expensive houses, and where the rich kids owned apartments and ate at the fancy cafes. Hai Anh knew of a really good Chinese restaurant, and so we stopped there for lunch. We got too much food as usual and Hai Anh got me to try chickens feet. They didn’t taste too bad, but it is mostly skin and you eat it off the bones of the feet. I was okay with it, but it wont be making my top ten.

Once again, we had no shortage of topics to catch up on, and most of the meal was spent talking. It was really good to see her again, and it made me wish I had stayed in more contact over the years. After lunch we headed further into the rich district and she showed me her uncles house, worth a massive amount of money, in a large compound. The streets were pretty empty and very wide, so she asked me if I wanted to drive. Now this was a major tick box for me, drive a motorbike in Asia. It was automatic, so quite easy to ride and after a few meters, I had the hang of it. I even mastered the art of getting over the speed bumps. I only had limited time, so we headed for a juice place before heading back to my Hotel. I obviously didn’t ride back into town, but I secretly wish I had the skills to do so.

I got a meter taxi to the airport after refusing several before it. I was hassled by the check in lady as my bag was 22.80kg. She told me that she would give me a 1kg leeway, so I had to remove 800g. I struggled and ended up throwing out my shampoo and conditioner. I passed immigration and headed to the food and shop level, above the gate lounges, which had a view of the runway. There I ran into one of the English guys I had been chatting to the night before. As it turned out he was on the same flight, but on his way home. It’s funny how you manage to meet so many travelers and then run into them by accident again. I suppose you mostly follow the same routes, so its bound to happen.

I arrived in Bangkok and went to catch the Airport Express Bus to Kao San Road (pronounced Cow San Road), the famous backpacker district of Bangkok. It was pretty good, and the aircon was so cold I had to put my jumper on. It took 45 minutes, and then we rounded a corner and passed probably the most crazy thing I have seen, so far on this trip. It was three city blocks of street stalls, shops, bars, cafes and westerners. I had tried to book accommodation online, but it was all quite expensive, and the general advice was to rock up and find accommodation then.

I was surprised at how much hotter it was than Vietnam. It could have been the humidity, but it felt like I was having a shower in my clothes. I checked out 4-5 places, wondering the length of Kao San Road several times. Most of the places I found were expensive, and not very appealing. Eventually, after asking at one place, I was led to another described as ‘same same’. It was called At Home Guesthouse and Restaurant, and I got an aircon room for 450 Thai Baht a night, which is around AU$19. It was about average for a room with aircon in Bangkok. It wasn’t very nice, put simply it was a tiled room, with just enough room for a double bed and a sidetable, and an ensuite at the side.

After locking up my bags, I headed out for some food, and to explore Kao San Road. I hated what I found. There were so many people, and it was noisy and smelly and massively full on. I ate a nice chicken and cashews and drank a San Miguel beer, and headed for bed.

I plan to see some sights tomorrow, but if my feeling don’t change I am getting out of here as soon as possible. Down to Ko Samui or Ko Pangan, the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. There is something about Bangkok that doesn’t sit right with me, it is no more busy, or smelly, or hectic than Vietnam, but I think its because its so touristy and westernized.