Mid-way through my week in Ho Chi Minh. I'm liking it a lot actually - though it's not quite how I imagined. Lots of shops selling great fake stuff from amazing reproductions of works of art, through to DVDs and Gucci sunglasses. The streets are packed with motorcycles - apparently there are about 5 million of the things in Ho Chi Minh alone. Girls ride them in their coolie hats, knee-length gloves and face masks. Wrinkled old guys slouch around on street corners offering taxi-bike services (great way to get around - so much fuuun). Bu Vien, the street that I'm staying in, is backpacker central. A constant stream of scruffy, tanned travellers weighed down by enormous bags are entering and leaving all the bargain hostels and hotels. In the day time we all hang around in the numerous restaurants, and at night the numerous bars. Beer is cheap, food is good and everyone is friendly and generally chilled out.
There is also lots of interesting stuff to do. The day before yesterday, after writing my blog entry, I caught a taxi-bike to the war museum for a bit of history. It was interesting, but depressing; lots of tanks and planes, a room about all the war photographers and another about the gruesome after-effects of Agent Orange.
Yesterday I went with a group of people to the Cu Chin tunnels. 40 miles from the city, the tunnels in question are a warren of secrets passageways built underground by the Cu Chin guerillas during the war. We got to crawl through one - it was claustrophobic, and the original entrances are ridiculously tiny. If yesterday made me feel sorry for the Vietnamese, the spiked traps the guerillas left for the American soldiers made me feel slightly sorry for the other side too.Today I took a bike to the Rex hotel and chilled by the pool on their roof. It was nice to spend the day alternatively dipping and roasting. I also finished souvenir shopping. I'm planning to go to the Mekong tomorrow, but will hopefully post the stuff the day after. Who knows, maybe it'll get to the UK before xmas?
It's christmas soon tho - you get nice frosty weather, roaring fires and port wine and all that. Plus christmas presents. I'll probably be in baking weather having a BBQ with a bunch of drunk 18 yr old gappers. Yay for me.
ReplyDeleteIt will undoubtedly be wet and miserable here at christmas, as it usually is. You don't have to socialise with drunk,18 year old gappers if you don't want to!! I am sure you will be having a great time, and everyone here definately envies you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm off on sunday! Eeek - sooo exciting
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