Saigon - Vietnam - 3rd March 2006

Well, after a little delay due to Visa's we are now in Vietnam.

Its nothing like Lonely Planet explained it would be.
We were expecting to be held up at knife point the moment we walked the streets, but its just not the case.

We booked two nights into a good quality hotel, just to allow us to get a feel for Saigon without having to chance any problems.
After leaving the hotel on the first night at gone 11pm, we new things were no worse than the UK.
We moved hotels after 2 nights, as there were hotels in better locations that were a fraction of the cost.

Walking about in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh as its also called, is a real gamble.
It has nothing to do with any trouble, just the vast number of mopeds all tearing around as if they are on a life or death mission.
There are rights of way here, but the rule is that the majority get priority in any direction.
Horns are sounded by cars, buses and mopeds, but its a token gesture as everyone just ploughs through the traffic in any direction that suits them.

Crossing the road is a fine art !!
You start by just edging your way into the stream of mopeds, but soon learn that the only way is to move forward as if theres nothing coming!!
So far it has worked, and the bikes just seem to part either side of you until you cross the road.
The other point that needs remembering, is that you have to look both ways as there doesn't seem to be a given rule that all vehicles should drive on the right !!
In fact the pavement seems fair game if the road is too congested, so you have to be looking out at all times.

Its hard to tell from this photo just how bad things are, but you should be at least able to see that there is no right of way !!


We found this lady cooking bean curd with egg.
Having already tried bean curd, I can only say that it looks far better than it tastes.


No one here will disagree that its a hard life being a street vender.
I am sure that this lady is no more that 20 years of age !!


This is the local opticians. The guy with his back to the photo was cutting out the lenses, whilst the other man with the grinding wheel was making them fit into the frames.


Everything here can be transported by human labor alone. If things get a little too heavy for one person then they will just add a moped for extra power






The lady with her face all wrapped up is having a manicure.
I am not sure if her face is covered up to protect from the dust or if she doesn't want anyone knowing that its here.
Alison bottled it and went to a local shop - Wheres the fun in that !!


These are not scales. The tray on the right contain banana which has been pressed out flat and cooked on the left hand tray.
It tasted quite nice.


Saigon reminds us both of Cuba, as there are so many old buildings that still remain.
It is a nice change from China, where a photo like thins would have had 100 Chinese people all going about their business.


These guys are everywhere trying to get both of us to jump into their Pedlo carriage, so that he can show us the sights.
Through fear of being sued for inflicting a heart attack, we have so far declined.


We haven't yet worked out why the face masks are used.
It doesn't seem that dusty to justify having them, so the only other reason must be to protection from the sun.


We have booked some train tickets to travel North to a beach resort called Nha Trang.
The idea is to use the train where possible to go as far as Hanoi and then catch a plane back to Saigon.
If we have time left and money spare, then we will look to do another river cruise.
This time we hope to do the Mekong Delta from Saigon through to Cambodia, although we will have to go through the whole process of Visa applications again ( Not our best talent to date ).