We arrived in District 1 of Saigon which is the city centre and the bus dropped us off in Pham Ngu Lao which is where all the cheaper guest houses and hotels are. The original hotel we planned to stay at was full but easily found a nice one just across the way for $15/night.
It didn't take us long to realise that this city's roads are ruled by motorcycles, just crossing a small street is risking fate and with Jess's hand in mine we danced across the streets with 2 steps forward and two steps back. I think 8 of our 9 lives have been used up already, and that was only on the way to get a beer! Speaking of which, we tried the local drop called Saigon Red or 333 which turned out to be a wheat beer. Not really much to say about it as it was pretty tasteless which was dissapointing. From here it was time to eat the local favourite - Pho. It's a simple but tasty noodle soup dish, with beef or chicken, plenty of spring onion and you can add a variety of different garnishes that are offered such as lime, chilli, bean sprouts and basil. Absolutely delicious!
We wandered the busy neon-lit streets for a while to take in the local surrounds and gather our bearings. It seems no matter where you are in south-east Asia there's always someone asking to take you somewhere and in the case of Vietnam you have a range of options from a 'Cyclo' a modified bicycle for a more traditional ride, random people sitting on their motorbikes called xe-om's and of course taxi's. It was just very strange to not here them shouting "tuk-tuk!?". Of course if you decline you will then be offered another tourist service in the form of marijuana. I don't know if it's my beard, but I swear if I had a dollar for everytime I was asked!
So in the evening we thought let's relax and enjoy a few beer's and after all the street vendors plastic seats and chairs were full, thought we go to a cafe nearby. I'll admit it wasn't the most authentic choice I could've made and ordered a garlic bread which once it arrived seemed it had been dipped in a vat of oil. It was only then that we notice the large pictures of Harley-Davidsons on the walls to find that this was an American grill! Bleh...but they gave us free peanuts in shells so we stayed for one more beer before getting some Zzz's for our big day crawling through some tunnels.
The Chu Chi tunnels are absolutely fascinating and sometimes hard to believe the fact that they managed to live in such places so deep below the earth. Getting the opportunity to climb in to these small spaces, no larger than 1.3 metres, really felt as if we'd stepped back through time. It's hot, stuffy, the smell of dirt penetrates your nose and all you can see if pitch black with the odd camera flash going off strobe style. Some of the English girls in our group must've suffered from claustrophobia as they took one look and were quick to turn in the opposite direction. Not the place to be if you have that condition that's for sure! They only place smaller was the one of the secret entrances to the tunnel that I was just lucky enough to fit in to, unfortunately for another girl she managed to get a little stuck with everyone standing around her, a tad embarrassed.
A few craters caused by B-52's and cheesy animatronics depicting how the Viet-Cong made mines and ammunition from American bombs we followed the sound of large bangs going off until we arrived at what I was most excited for. It was time to shoot some guns! For $US1.25 a bullet I got a mag of 10 to share with Jess and we made our way down to the trenches to shoot some stationary cardboard cut-outs of animals. Yee-haw! I'll tell you now the sound of an AK-47 is LOUD. Trying to talk to the person next to you is impossible and how the military guy could just stand there and not even wince standing right next to the AK amazed us. I grabbed the ear-protection and the guy loaded the mag - I told him to set it to semi-auto as the guy before us blew his load in a second before it was all over. I wanted to enjoy every bullet of it! It is strangely addictive firing a gun, especially one of such fame as the AK-47. There were other fire-arms on offer like the M-16 and Colt .45, but the AK suited just fine. And of course I didn't hit a single thing except the dirt, I blame it on wind sheer. It was quite enjoyable watching Jess shoot off a few rounds and I think she may have even done better than me! After it was all over and our emptied shells had joined the millions littered on the ground it was time to leave. Awwwwwww! I felt like a little kid that didn't want to leave his friends house to go home. Jess was more than happy to leave the ear shattering ka-booms behind.
Our tour bus was kind enough to drop us at the War Remnants museum, our next stop to improve our knowledge of the devastating Vietnam war. Outside the main building sat numerous American war machines ranging from jet-fighters, helicopters, tanks and of course the very impressive 600 pound bomb used during the war which could clear a 3.2Km area. Scary stuff! Once inside museum, we saw the walls adorned with photos which documented the effects of napalm, Agent Orange, and all manner of variety of menacing devices used to inflict injury and death on both sides, more so the weapons used by the Americans. In cases lay the weapons American GI's used against the VC and stories of the American terror brought upon the Vietnamese.
So after a couple of emotional hours at the War Remnants museum we took off for a hectic walk beside the Saigon traffic the train station to buy our tickets for the 5-star express to Nha Trang, only to find that the 5-star express no longer exists! So we booked a regular train instead, and then looked for a ride back to the hotel. We thought it would be fun to try out a Xe-om (motorbike taxi) and while being surrounded by a number of drivers who seemed to be arguing with each for our business, were finally given our helmets and we were off in a flash to get around Saigon, authentic style! You just haven't been to Vietnam without trying this, it is thrilling, exciting and shitting you're pants scary at the same time. Whizzing between a seething mass of cars, trucks and what seemed like an endless stream motorbikes, the only thing we could do was just to trust our drivers not to crash in to anyone else - or them crash in to us! Going around a round-about was the worst as there are no rules to these roads and only driver etiquette which seems little more than beeping at anything that got in your way. We made it back to our hotel in one piece a little buzzed and in Jess' case a little shaky!
Photos here!
No comments:
Post a Comment