Motorcycle Madness

After 11 years of living in the Far East, I am not quite sure why I had never got around to visiting Vietnam up until just recently. It has not been a conscious decision to not visit, perhaps just that there has always seemed to be somewhere else that I have wanted to go, or perhaps, without realizing it, I have been a little put off by the ‘traveler snobbery’ often hearing people say how Vietnam is ‘the place to visit’ and that in comparison Thailand ‘is past it’s best’. Being quite fond of the Land of Smiles, Thailand has always had my allegiance.

So it was not until the Ching Ming holiday earlier this month, we found that there was no way we could get flights to Bangkok (Darling left it far to late to try and book anything), that we were forced to reconsider our options, and settled on a long weekend to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) instead. Darling booked the flights, I got the visas, and we were off.

The first thing that strikes you upon arrival as you head towards your hotel is the traffic, which is generally comprised of motorcycles, thousands of them, and quite often heading in the wrong direction and straight towards you! As they are the main mode of transport in the city (there are over 3 million of them in Ho Chi Minh alone), it is not uncommon to see the whole family on a moped weaving their way past you as you snarl your way along.

Another observation with the motorcycles is that they very rarely stop, for anything, even traffic lights, including letting you cross the road. After the first couple of goes you soon get the hang of stepping out into the traffic, fingers crossed, hoping that you do not get knocked down at any moment. As you steadily make your way across the road, with eyes fixed firmly towards the oncoming traffic, the sea of bikes part either side of you (thankfully). A very sensible option is to adopt the safety in numbers approach - keeping your self as far ‘downstream’ as possible.

Motorcycles, and searing heat aside, Ho Chi Minh is a great city to explore on foot, with hidden gems of places to see which you would miss in the air conditioned comfort of a taxi. The food is excellent, particularly bowls of steaming Pho Bo (beef noodles) accompanied by a cold beer. The old style coffee shops are great, and I thoroughly recommend the ice cream to be had at Fanny.

We did the obligatory tour of the ‘Reunification Palace’ (where back in April 1975 the tanks rolled in to depose Duong Van Minh of power), visited the Ben Tanh market, took in a temple or two, traipsed up and down Dong Koi street and even managed to fit in a couple of well earned spa visits (well – we had done a lot of walking). By night, the number of motorcycles seemed to drop, just a little, and, noise aside, made for an interesting spectacle when viewed from a roadside bar. We ate at very good Vietnamese and French restaurants (no, not on the same evening) and tried out a few of the bars and clubs. Q Bar was rather cool and quite good for a more relaxed beer, whereas ‘Apocalypse Now’, complete with the ‘Charlie don’t surf!’ inscribed board above the door, was a more riotous place – much more to my liking (but unfortunately not to Darling’s).

I found Ho Chi Minh a great place to visit. I liked it from the moment we arrived and found it got better the longer we were there and the more we explored. The people were very friendly; no one tried to rip us off, the food excellent and the beer cold -what more could you ask for?