Day Thirty Four: Biking Saigon

Day Thirty Four February 24th, 2009
Chau Doc to Ho Chi Minh City

Chau Doc in the morning light.

Today was a very long day of driving over bumpy roads that were often not paved in a large coach bus that needed new shocks and maybe a muffler. The city of Ho Chi Minh is large and sprawling. The population is somewhere between 3 million and 8 million depending on who you are talking about and the official area of the city. Needless to say, there are a lot of motos zip around the city. As each stop light turns red, a sea of round helmets begin to pile up. The sight is quite amazing and comical. We arrived around three in the afternoon so that left me plenty of time to explore the city. Loving motos but not too confident about riding around this city of chaos I rented a bicycle for the rest of the evening. Total cost, $2. I have been quite surprised by how well developed and modern the Vietnamese cities actually are however I have been told by many that things were not this way just five years ago. I pulled out my trusty map and just started to head out around the major sight of the city. The market, Reunification Palace (looks like the set of a 70's porno, sorry Vietnam,) the botanical garden, the river, the Rex hotel, a catholic cathedral.....yadda yadda.
I crossed the river over to a more residential area and lost myself in a maze of narrow alleys filled with children playing and women chatting. All the children would yell out to me, "Hello, hello." To which I would reply with a smile and a "hello." The kids here are just adorable, always smiling with a mischievous look. Further more, I have found that everyone that I have come into contact with is friendly and happy. I was giving biking tips ad directions from many with a wink and smile. Nearly everyone I come into contact with asks where I am from. With the reply, "American" they smile and continue to make small talk whether it be that they have family in New York, had recently met someone from California or are happy that Obama is in office. It astounds me to think that they are able to have such a pleasant reaction even though the dark shadow of the Vietnam/American war still looms over the country.

After sunset I returned the bike and met with Charlotte (a tour mate,) her friend from England that is touring the world by bike and a couple that he is staying with in Ho Chi Minh. Dinner was good fun and very interesting to meet one man who has plans to bike 65 or so countries and another who has moved himself from South Africa to Vietnam for love. We shared copious amounts of food and then washed it all down with copious amounts of Asian beer, some of which are not too bad.