Good morning Vietnam
The flight to Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon and here after abbreviated to HCMC was less than an hour in length. Far better than the 6 hour bus ride with an added 2 hours to secure a Visa and clear customs. That part was almost the same length. I had never seen such as slow process in all my years of travelling. That it was topped off by the cashier ripping us off only added to the pain. Instrad of giving us $50 in change from our hundred she gave us two twenties and a 200,000 VND note. The latter is worth about $8.50US and not the $10 she insisted it replaced. It wasn’t the amount but the principle. “ Welcome to Vietnam, you’ve just been had by a government official. Bitch!
In spite of the almost two hour delay, our pre-arranged ride was still waiting for us.
The airport to downtown drive is probably scarey even at the best of times but at 5pm it looked like someone had kicked over an ant nest. Except, instead of ants the scurrying insects were several thousand commuters on bikes and scooters,all rushing to see who would die first. Traffic lights meant very little, as upwards of 50 bikers would tear through a red light in a giant pack- safety in numbers, I guess.
I’ve yet to figure out how to post video to the blog so you’ll have to take my word.
The 7km trip took well over half an hour of stop a go or should that be stop and go F. Yourself traffic.
Our hotel, the Saigon Signiture is not bad for $47 US. It doesn’t have windows, other than a small one in the bathroom, but we are only here for one night. My only complaint is that, like the other two hotels the air on seems to have only two settings, freeze or flambé. Adjusting the fan to the lowest setting still seems to produce the equivalent of a walk along Portage and Main in January.
While Susanna relaxed in the comfort of our deep freezer, I went in search of an ATM and literally found one about every 500 feet. Most seemed to be linked to one specific bank card or would only accept credit cards. I eventually found one that recognized my debit card and, after several rejections of larger amounts, managed to extract two million of the local Monopoly money ( about $100 Canadian. )
Feeling flush, (my first time as a millionaire) we found a small hole in the wall run by a gentleman from France. With a menu of barely 5 items, It wasn’t too hard to decide on dinner. A couple of spring rolls and noodle dishes later we wandered back to the hotel sufficiently stuffed and only $8 lighter than when we arrived.
Tomorrow we move hotels to join our tour group and I’m trying to decide between a 15 minute walk costing nothing but a little sweat equity or a 13 minute taxi ride which will probably cost $5 and have us facing the wrath of a grumpy cabbie for wasting his time on such a short trip!
In spite of the almost two hour delay, our pre-arranged ride was still waiting for us.
The airport to downtown drive is probably scarey even at the best of times but at 5pm it looked like someone had kicked over an ant nest. Except, instead of ants the scurrying insects were several thousand commuters on bikes and scooters,all rushing to see who would die first. Traffic lights meant very little, as upwards of 50 bikers would tear through a red light in a giant pack- safety in numbers, I guess.
I’ve yet to figure out how to post video to the blog so you’ll have to take my word.
The 7km trip took well over half an hour of stop a go or should that be stop and go F. Yourself traffic.
Our hotel, the Saigon Signiture is not bad for $47 US. It doesn’t have windows, other than a small one in the bathroom, but we are only here for one night. My only complaint is that, like the other two hotels the air on seems to have only two settings, freeze or flambé. Adjusting the fan to the lowest setting still seems to produce the equivalent of a walk along Portage and Main in January.
While Susanna relaxed in the comfort of our deep freezer, I went in search of an ATM and literally found one about every 500 feet. Most seemed to be linked to one specific bank card or would only accept credit cards. I eventually found one that recognized my debit card and, after several rejections of larger amounts, managed to extract two million of the local Monopoly money ( about $100 Canadian. )
Feeling flush, (my first time as a millionaire) we found a small hole in the wall run by a gentleman from France. With a menu of barely 5 items, It wasn’t too hard to decide on dinner. A couple of spring rolls and noodle dishes later we wandered back to the hotel sufficiently stuffed and only $8 lighter than when we arrived.
Tomorrow we move hotels to join our tour group and I’m trying to decide between a 15 minute walk costing nothing but a little sweat equity or a 13 minute taxi ride which will probably cost $5 and have us facing the wrath of a grumpy cabbie for wasting his time on such a short trip!
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