Tobias travels to South-East Asia and beyond!

Because the ticking you hear is your life passing you by!

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Location: London, United Kingdom

In my thirty's and slowly loosing my misanthropic streak!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Good evening Saigon



Decided that I’ve been on far too many busses lately and decided to splash out $50 for a flight to Saigon (or Ho chi min city as it’s called these days).
Got to Saigon in the evening time and jumped into a cab for the hotel I’d chosen in the backpacker area. Dropped my stuff at the room and headed out into the Saigon night.
I was too tired and hungry to go anywhere and pretty much jumped into the first bar I saw with bright lights and ordered myself some food and a beer.
The staff was very friendly, started chatting with me, even asking more than the usual “Where are you from”, “What’s your name”. It took a little before the penny dropped and I realized that I had chosen the local brothel to have my evening tea.
An English guy who worked in Saigon as an estate agent turned up soon after I had sat down claiming that he was there because he liked that area (cough) and wanted to get away from his office workers (cough, cough). Chatted him for a while until the Madame of the house came out, knocked him on the shoulder and said she had a fresh and clean one for him. Nice!
Went to bed, fell asleep straight away and woke up refreshed despite the blasting heat. Got out and started walking around Saigon and it truck me straight away that the city was like all other big cities in Asia. Tuck-tuck drivers try to get hold of you, motor bike riders holler at you and restaurant try to get you into their place. I avoided it all by smiling and saying no but it does take a lot of effort to stay away from them and not give in.
After walking around the city for five hours I realized that I had pretty much done everything that the city had to offer. I had been at the war museum (which was good since it gave a Vietnamese perspective on the war) checked out the eopera house and the park with the piece monument but after the churches and the pagod's there really wasn't much more to do which didn't include spending lots of money.
Vietnam is quite a strange place. On paper it should have a lot to offer but in reality there is not an awful lot to it. It’s a busy place with a lot of people that for most of the time consider you a walking bank. I am sure there are a lot of great people in the country but as a tourist they are few and too far between. Sure, if you are interested in the Vietnam war you'll get your share but otherwise it's pretty bleak.
It was time for drastic measures. Instead of staying the intended three nights I decided that two was enough and got myself a ticket to Cambodia and Siem Reap.

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