Day 2 - Saigon (Part 2)

6th March 2011

As I begin to explore more of the downtown area, I noticed that Saigon is a city full of small businesses and shopkeepers. There are literally thousands of them, most of which are family run. They have narrow shopfronts that often extend out into the pavement to sell their wares or if it’s a restaurant or café, they will put little plastic tables and chairs. It is also here where you would usually find the locals squatting on the streets having a smoke, drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, etc. The pavements also double as motorcycle parking lots. In Vietnam, they park their bikes on the pavements, not on the side of the road. Sometimes I am forced to walk on the road because there just isn't any room.

As you can see from the pictures, Vietnam is still a very poor country. The streets are dirty. There are potholes on the road. Beggars. Rats in the alleyways. People spit. I've also seen men urinate against the wall in public. Despite all of this, it is a wonderful place, with so much energy and a real buzz. Simply walking to the nearest intersection and merely watching the driving antics is amazing. Throughout my trip, I’ve seen a whole family of four, window glass, plasma televisions and fridge and live animals and other unlikely objects impossibly balanced and all shipped by bike.

Saigon is also a place where the old meets the new. There are modern shopping centres with multi-level shopping such as Diamond Plaza and Saigon Square. And as you can see from the pictures, there are some tall skyscrapers lining the streets and quite a few more are under construction.

After walking around the city for the rest of the morning and seeing some interesting site including Saigon River, Hindu temple and the main parks I finally got to Pham Ngu Lao district which is the city’s backpacker paradise. 

This place is great for tourist with a plethora of hotels and accommodation, travel agencies, souvenir shops and bars and restaurants. It is the place to go to book various tours and day trips. Because there so many travel agencies here, the prices are really cheap and competitive. It was actually a bit hard to choose which tour to do because there were just too many to choose from and they all offered similar itineraries and prices. At the end, I booked a tour for 2 days in the Mekong Delta for tomorrow with an overnight stay at a hotel for only $30.

The next place I visited was the War Remnant Museum which I think is a must do if you ever go to Saigon (more on this on my next post). Then I went back to the Notre Dame Cathedral for more photos and visited the Saigon Central Post Office, which was located across the street from the Cathedral. It has a nice Gothic architectural style and was designed by the same guy who did the Eiffel Tower. There was a large portrait of Ho Chi Minh hanging inside. 

It was soon approaching evening and I thought it would be a great time to check out the city from above during the sunset. I headed up to the rooftop bars of the Sheraton Saigon and Rex Hotel. Being a Sunday night, it was still very lively at the bars and the drinks relatively cheap. They had great views across the streets of the city’s downtown district. They are fantastic places to hang out. The rest of the night was spent walking through the many large streets and alleyways of Saigon and visiting markets and shops. My legs were really tired after a good day of walking. Next stop the Mekong Delta.