12.12.2002 33 °C
Hola amigos...
Have finally hit the big smoke, once again, after 2 days of R&R in Hue and 4 more (mostly relaxing in the sun) in Hoi An. I have also developed a quite nice tan (the Hungarian chicks who frequent tanning salons to resemble oranges would be most envious) - thanks to my natural tendency (ahem) for 'olive' skin and doxycycline (anti-malarial medication), which is purported to make me photo-sensitive....
On my last night in Hoi An, I had lost all the troops I had befriended along the way but wound up having dinner with two very zany Australian women and a Scottish chick who has been based for the past 2 years in Saigon. Had a nice time comparing notes on our "same same but different" experiences in Nam, and conversing with the chef and waiter from the restaurant, Cafe des Amies. The food was absolutely divine. I had been referred to the restaurant by a Swede (who else?! It's impossible to escape them) and was not disappointed. They bring out plate after plate of exquisite food and just when you think it's all over...more food comes - all for a bargain price of 60 000 Vietnamese dollars (about $AUD7). Definitely worth the (relative) splurge. Quite enjoyed the 'surprise' milkshake too, although I still have not been able to figure out what the ingredients were. Sometimes it's better that way though right?
Caught a flight from Da Nang down to Saigon on Monday (Ho Chi Minh City, take your pick, my motorbike driver, 'Bic' (as in the brand of pens) claims that either name is perfectly acceptable. Upon my check-in for the flight, I was a little concerned to not see a flight to HCM City on the departures screen - well there were of course flights, but certainly not one at the time i was due to fly. Hmmmm....I had been warned that Vietnam Airlines liked to cancel unfull flights but surely not my flight!
I anxiously approached the check-in bloke, who tried to allay my concerns - "check in 5 minute counter 2 and 3". After 5 minutes, counter 2 and 3 began flashing up a flight, but not to HCM City....it was to Pleiku? Plei where? Strange....I checked the number of my flihgt VN433.
Uhoh.......
Very odd....my flight number was the same but didn't mention anything about Pleiku. Why on earth would I go to Pleiku - had heard of the place but where on earth was it? I quickly referred to my guide....SW of Dalat, in the Central Vietnamese Highlands. Bastards tricked me - although my ticket didn't indicated it was a connecting flight and only said DaNang-Saigon, it was apparently an indirect flight with a layover in Pleiku....grrrr. The bloke at the counter suggested I cancel this ticket and buy a new one for a direct flight - not likely!
Within 5 minutes of politely bickering with the Vietnam Airlines staff they had issued me (free of charge thank goodness) a ticket on the next flight to Saigon, on Pacific Airlines, the other national carrier. Woohoo! Problemsolved.
I had been a little anxious coming to Saigon....I had been warned that it was a crazy place. So naturally I approached my wanderings with a degree of caution. I hopped straight on a cyclo and went like a maniac through the wide boulevardes (and narrow streets/alley-ways) of Saigon to the War Remnants Museum. Until a few years ago, the museum was known as "The Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes" but deciding this name would offend the "Number One Americans" and do little to strengthen international relations with the Chinese, renamed it.
Name change or not, the message from the museum is pretty clear. It details, quite graphically, in photographs andwritten accounts, just how evil the Americans were during the war (mind you, the exhibition is quite one-sided). The photographs are very graphic (I'll spare you details) and the stuff in the bottles is also quite grotesque. The museum quite dramatically drives home though how war makes savages out of people who often don't really seem to know what they are fighting for (and in many cases have little choice in the matter)...and serves no purpose whatsoever - aside from death, heartache, environmental degradation and a screwed-up economy.
Anyway, after that, I walked down to the Reunification Palace (closed for a meeting - grrr) and so continued on a walking tour of the city, seeing the Hotel de Ville (aka the People's Committee Building), Uncle Ho statue (bastard is following me again) and shops Also ran into the Irish couple from Halong Bay. Nice to see some Halong people....they had been the first I had seen since the trip finished over 2 weeks ago. Dinner was served at my hotel at about 7.
My hotel is named originally named "No. 64". Áround the corner, is "No. 24" where an Irish friend Liz is staying, and Arne is staying at "No. 65"! You´d think they could use a little creativity!! Rani (Pommie friend) actually had a name for her hotel - though I can´t remember it right now.
On Tuesday I did a trip out to the CaoDai temple at Tay Ninh (10km from Cambodian border). CaoDaism is a very peculiar religion with about 2 million followers in Vietnam. CaoDaists worship the evil eye (I was informed it was a left eye - something to do with the heart being on the left side of the body) and their religion is a blend of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Catholicism and maybe one or two more....a 'bitsa' religion. CaoDaists regard Victor Hugo as their patron saint (true!) and also have Louis Pasteur, Shakespeare and Marilyn Manson (ok so I made that one up) as their holy dudes.
Also visited the CuChi tunnels (where Viet Cong had their underground world during the American War. Quite fun....even though they have widened the original tunnels to cater for fat tourists, it's still fun...and some of the tunnels are still their original size - really very tiny! Thankfully, I'm the height of the average Vietnamese superhero and not especially wider so it wasn't that bad for me. I was hoping to fire an AK-47 there as I had read you could do it for $USD1 a bullet, however the Nazis there have a minimum 5 bullets so it's a rip-off. Met up with Rani and Arnie (gotta love rhyming names) as well as an English and Irish chick for dinner.
We settled on this glitzy Vietnamese restaurant but after perusing the menu for a while ("Deep-fried Goat's Penis" anyone? Maybe "Brain piggy"?) decided against it. We settled for a plate of spring rolls and hit a local Italian restaurant instead
Yesterday I was delighted to have "slept in" til around about 7am. Perhaps it would have been later had I not been awoken by construction workers on the floor above me. I had no grand plans for yesterday...well actually I was going to just go shopping but thought that could get somewhat tiresome with the hoardes of vendors chasing the blonde woman around the city streets. I decided at the last minute to go in search of the "exotic animal market". It was one of those "Oh God, I really don´t need to see it because it´s horrible" but "I´m curious to find out about how it really is" situations. Perversely curious, I was, I guess. But, I was unable to find it - I´m not sure if that´s because it has now closed (hopefully), or because it´s forbidden for moto drivers to take foreigners there. So he took me to a street filled with (relatively well-looked-after) pets.
From thereI went to the beautiful Jade Emperor Pagoda before being invited to my taxi driver's home to check out his CD collection (he worked for the hotel I stayed at and seemed like a genuine bloke). It was quite an amusing experience - he only seems to listen to boy bands - his favourites are Westlife, Five and N-Sync. He was very disappointed when I told him that Britney Spears had dated Justin Timberlake. He was however relieved to hear that their relationship had since fizzled so maybe he still had a chance!
After too much listening to rubbish boy bands, I hit the markets, and then the CD shops....For AUD1.20 each, you can´t complain too much - even if the covers are photocopies and the quality is not always top-notch.
After yesterday's market expedition, I found the local beauty salon. Checked out the place - looked alright....so why not? So I settled on a haircut. And then they suggested I have a manicure at the same time...Ok...sounds good. Ok...and what about a pedicure? As well????? Ummm....had to say no there are my feet were pretty grotty from cruising about town in my sandals all day. So a hair-cut and manicure for a whopping 45000 dong...$6! Damn...good value.
Met up with my friends last night...before heading in search of art shops - some very good reproductions of Monet, Dali and Klee on offer..some not so good though. I´ve seen better Van Gogh done by a 5 year old!
Off tonight to the Institute of Massage, where blind masseuses offer 1 hour long massages for $US2. Not bad! Then it´s a birthday dinner for Arne, and maybe a look at some of the discotheques/karaoke bars downtown.
Am about to head to Chinatown to do some more shopping - hoping to find my same driver from yesterday. No doubt he will be waiting outside my hotel as he was an hour ago Gotta love their loyalty.
Tomorrow off To Mekong Delta for 2 days.....then more shopping in Saigon. Only a few days left!
Cheers
Bel xo
P.S. By the way, the subject line that headed the email was just for my parents sake and doesn't reflect in any way any shenanigans in HCM City.
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