Here today, Saigon tomorrow

August 15th - 16th

After our arrival to Nha Trang via the medieval-torture-device-bus we decided to fork over the extra $40 to get an early morning, (7:15am) flight to Ho Chi Minh, still known as Saigon to the local population.  Having requested in advance that our hostel come get us, rather than deal with haggling with an unknown taxi driver, we only had to wait 10 minutes before our driver picked us up. We drove through a maze of city streets, much like Hanoi except for more expansive, for forty-five minutes before being dropped off at the side of the road at a city park. Like clockwork, a worker from the hostel runs across the street and personally escorts us down a neighborhood alley where our hostel, Ncoc Thao Guesthouse is located. This is the first place where we are requested to take our shoes off before entering, a clear sign we are really staying in someone’s home rather than a hostel.

Since we arrived before check-in, we were were allowed to store our bags.  For us this means engaging in level 3 lockdown. Okay, we really don’t call it that, but it is pretty intense anti-theft setup compared to anyone else we have seen. First, all of our electronics/small valuables are loaded into small nylon and mesh bags which are labeled and locked. Then these, along with our larger valuables like Kindles, computer, etc. are loaded into our Packsafe. This is a brilliant device designed to actually cover a hiker’s backpack with a steel net so thieves could not cut into it. We have been using the stretchable wire bag as a pouch in its own right, loaded it up, synching it tight and then locking it down when we leave our room. On this occasion, we load it up and put it inside Pearce’s backpack, which then is locked to Allyson’s backpack via a bike lock we brought with us. Although anyone with enough time and ingenuity could still get our stuff eventually, we hope that they will take one look at our craziness and go for an easier target.

After “locking it down,” we made for an early day because we had so few in the city.  There were several things I (Pearce) wanted to do and see in Saigon.  We both came from different travel backgrounds that can be crudely generalized as follows (written oddly in third person because we both contribute to each blog):  Pearce tends to be a classic sightseer, married to guides or guidebooks.  On the bright side this leads to seeing major and significant landmarks associated with these destinations, so one does not miss highlights and “must sees.”  The other side of this strategy can lead to an over-itinerate schedule too packed with tourist sites plagued with the been there done that’s.  Allyson has developed a more organic style of travel much preferring the spontaneity of adventure and go with the flow attitude.  This breeds all type of unexpected thrills but can be a gamble.  This portion of the trip, I (Pearce) was mostly in charge so there was a considerable more on our set to-do list.

We started at the Reunification Palace which in brief was the Presidential Palace most famous in housing the President of the Republic of Vietnam (Southern) before and during what is called the American War here.  At this point we should acknowledge were are traveling tourists in Vietnam and more specifically American tourists.  Given the history between our two countries and the outcome of the war there are many things we wanted to be sensitive to.  In this we will not discuss our personal feelings of the politics of the war, however the view of the governing power in Vietnam and subsequently the focus of the museums is not flattering towards our country.  For example the most visited museum in Saigon, when translated accurately, is called the Museum of American War Atrocities.  So despite my above mentioned enthusiasm for history and visiting museums we planned on less provocative ones, like the Presidential Palace.  It was a beautifully designed palace kept very much the way it was the day the tanks rolled in and the famous last helicopter of U.S. support fled.  It was a quiet and peaceful self guided tour and Allyson and I learned a lot about President Diehm’s regime

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After seeing the Palace we began a long walk across town to go to the fine arts museum.  On the way we stopped at a road side restaurant (Allyson’s influence).  After some awkward pointing, I ordered a dish of basically fried or crispy chicken over vegetables and rice.  This impromptu meals still remains one of my top five meals on this trip. (and it was less than $3)  On the way to the museum, we saw the Catholic Church and the Post Office, both of which were pretty.

After that we found the fine arts museum, but it was closed, as apparently many tourist attractions are on Mondays in Vietnam.  But this detour was not without some unexpected entertainment.  Down the street we saw a crowd gathering at the base of a two-story long house from the balcony of which there was a family talking to the waiting crowd.  All of a sudden there was a loud commotion and the crowd converged on itself scrambling after something the family had thrown from the balcony.  Catching on quickly, I realized the family was throwing coins down and in a very rare moment I ran in with the crowd and grabbed a coin.  We later inquired of our concierge in the guesthouse and she said it was common occurrence and was associated with a month long holiday of giving that she likened to Halloween (although the with some blatant omissions i.e. costumes).

With the time from the Fine Arts fiasco we strolled down to the Ben Thanh Market.  This market was similar to ones we have seen throughout our trip.  They can be amazing places with overwhelming amounts of things if not to buy than to just see and smell; a sensory overload.  At its worst it can be a claustrophobe’s nightmare and this combined with some unfriendly merchants, we decided to make a quick exit.  We went down a street that was selling shoes, trying to find a pair to replace the shoes I had left somewhere in Vietnam.  Turns out it is hard for a guy with giant feet to find shoes in Asia.  Go figure.

We had planned to go to one of the nice rooftop bars in Saigon to have a drink and a nice view but it was raining so we headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.  We decided to go to a area that was recommended and described as a collection of formalized food stalls where one could order a la carte Thai food.  It turns out the place was one that we had passed earlier and did not recognize thinking it a fancy restaurant.  It was a restaurant that had stalls (sort of) but really only for decoration as you sit a a table and are served.  However the food was varied by region and quite good. 

After that we decided to go a recommended bar called Acoustic Bar which was described as a place with a good music scene.  Despite the name, the guidebook described it as a place to hear cool cover bands of non-acoustic American music.  It took us a while to find it in the night with a little rain but a few doubtful, dark side streets and we were there.  As a couple we don’t go to bars like this anymore, instead sticking to the few familiar pubs in our neighborhood (more for the food than anything) so this was a fun departure.  The bar itself might be found in the states, but the surprising thing was there were almost no non-Asians in the bar.  It was packed to the brim with upper working class Vietnamese.  We found the remaining stools at the bar immediately to stage right.  We ordered drinks and since the beer was expensive and this was a unique night out I ordered my first Manhattan.  The first musicians came on shortly after we arrived and played covers of Roy Orbison, Bruno Mars, Bon Jovi and a variety of other hits from the 70’s to now.  They were all really good, the mood was great and since we were some of the only people who knew the words to songs, we belted them out loudly. 

Later a man approached us who, like us, stood out because he was black in a bar full of Asians.  He told us he was scheduled to sing next and  turns out he was an amazing singer (putting the other singers to shame) and belted out favorites like Hello by Lionel Ritchie and Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.  After the drink we went to the neighboring place we saw on the way to the Acoustic.  It was a beautiful place in a courtyard and a man was playing a traditional string instrument.  We had a romantic dessert to finish the night.

The next day was our last and I wanted to make the most of it.  Unfortunately we had an errand to run that took half the day and was ultimately unsuccessful.  Because our plan was now to head to Thailand we would be there for more than a month.  It turns out to visit Thailand most countries do not require a VISA and Thailand offers a month (30 day) tourist stay.  However if you are staying longer one has to have a tourist VISA which really is only a matter of money and red tape.  This system has led to a funny bit of business as many tourists and especially backpackers of Southeast Asia know.  There is a loophole in a a sense as one can leave the country before the 30 days are up and re-enter and the clock of 30 days restarts.  One can only so this a certain number of times but for most it works out.  So what has happened is that many of the border or near border towns have any number of “tours” in which all you do is step on the border of Laos or Myanmar and come back.  There is now basically a well established business practice.  It is a good example of the law of unintended consequences.  Despite this we did not plan on doing one of these border crossings once we were in the islands of Thailand so we spent a long time walking around trying to find the Thai consulate, which was miss-marked on our maps.  After finding it and discussing our issue with the very nice clerk, we realized that our flight to Bangkok would leave hours before we could get our VISA the next day.  So we had missed the chance to extend our stay in Thailand without leaving the country (you cannot apply for the VISA after you have entered the country).

This frustration continued as when we finally reached the first stop of our planned day, the National History Museum, it was closed for several hours.  We stopped in a coffee shop for a few hours and tried to make the most of the false start day.  In the end, we had decided that since we had to leave Thailand at some point anyway we would add some new destinations on tour of Asia and the prospects have us both excited.  We won’t reveal the secret locations yet, but we have added THREE entire countries to our itinerary after Thailand.

After the planning session, we went to the history museum which focused on ancient Vietnamese history.  Given our backgrounds, especially Allyson’s, we found the museum to be great and full of artifacts from the Champa and Khmer dynasties.  We had planned on going to the Fine Arts museum we had missed the day before but we had run out of time.  On the way back to the hostel we checked out a “casino” mentioned in a magazine I had found in the coffee place.  I was intrigued by this as I had presumed the Vietnamese were not permitted to gamble in this way.  As it turns out Vietnamese nationals are not allowed in the casino.  It was a small room compared to Vegas and most of it was dedicated to slot machines.  In fact even the few table games were automated including a Texas Hold ‘Em table.  Despite temptation I decided not to lose our travel budget.

The weather got worse and the rain began to pour, so our plans for a rooftop drink in Saigon were dashed once again.  Instead we found refuge a near-by and delicious Indian restaurant called the Taj Mahal.  After filling up on Indian we went back to the hostel to call it a night.  For we had a long travel day to Thailand in the morning!