Six Days in Vietnam

OK, so I didn't actually spend 6 days there, but almost. I usually don't go for the tour group, guided tours but this was my first trip out of my comfort zone of Japan/China/Taiwan in Asia so I decided why not?

So now begins a little photo record of my very touristy tour of Vietnam. I'm trying to avoid the most touristy pics but it's almost impossible.




Oddly enough, the pics in this set seem to work best in reverse-chronological order, so that's what I'm doing here.

This lady checking her phone in the above pic is wearing the traditional Vietnamese garb called ao dai, which usually consists of a tight blouse/sash worn over pants. It looks cool, which would be perfect in Vietnam's hot, humid climate, and you have to appreciate clothing that looks so flattering while showing just a little skin.

Ho Chi Minh City and the area around were hot, around 95 degrees during the day, but it wasn't just the heat. Japan has a kind of humidity that feels like a blast furnace in the summer, and it makes you sweat buckets, like I've never felt in the US.

In Vietnam, though, the humidity has a different quality to it. You sweat, yes, but not like in Japan. Sweating isn't the problem, and so since you don't lose so much water the day's heat doesn't feel like it's killing you.

But your sweat does seem to mix with the dust and dirt in the air to form a sticky film over everything, to the point that even after taking a shower I didn't feel all that clean. Hell, after a few days even the barrel of the lens on my camera felt every so slightly moist at all times.




This pic reminds me of a back alley in Hong Kong, except it had fewer men wielding machetes.




I wandered randomly and found this market here that looked like it had about zero tourists but enough bikers riding among the crowds to give it that special Ho Chi Minh kind of feel.




All the pics taken here are in Ho Chi Minh City or in the area nearby, which according to both guides is populated by people who work long hard hours until 5, then bolt out into the city on their bikes to relax, go on a date, or have dinner.




I don't know about work life in Vietnam, but they were dead right about the bikes. Everywhere you go in Ho Chi Minh there are just swarms of people on scooters. It feels like a more crazy but yet somehow also more safe version of Taipei. Vietnamese people may drive at high speeds, on sidewalks and randomly into oncoming traffic, but there seems to be a good give and take to it all that keeps things moving and (I assume relatively) safe.




I'm an American in Vietnam... you can't possibly think I'd go without taking at least one tank pic. These pics were taken at a museum that had military weapons inside and out as well as a pictorial take on the sentiments of normal Vietnamese during the wars against the US and France, as well as after. It was moving but not in a pleading kind of way.




Now that, is a big ass cannon.




Just outside the museum, a field of bikers waits at a light. One guy smile and nodded to me when I gave him a grin.




Now that is an interesting little bike.




A few boats waiting for tourists on the Mekong River. It was hot, the sun was blazing down on us and it was very humid, but IMO it was still more tolerable than the blasting heat you get in Japan in the summer. Of course, as our guide said this is also the dry season where the weather is nice and is a bit cooler. Come back in August and I'm sure it's a different story.




Chickens, digging in the dirt. Yup, apparently they do that.




Everywhere you go in Vietnam outside of the city there always seem to be a billion little canals running between and around buildings.




A lonely road near the Mekong.




More boats on the Mekong.




More bikers. It seems there are three rules for riding a bike in Vietnam: do wear a helmet (the guide said they just introduced fines if you don't a few years ago), do wear a mask to keep out the dust, and do occasionally swerve into the path of oncoming vehicles.

If you raise a hand or nod to a driver they'll let you pass but if not... Be warned - I heard that ambulances are so slow to come you're better off hailing a taxi if you need to rush to a hospital.




I don't know why I took this pic, but the composition and colors seem to work.




That big thing in the upper left of the above pic is the Bitexco Financial Tower. I had a chance to go up to the flat deck there and take in a view of the city. It's worth the $10 and is also easy to go up in since there are literally no lines at all. They also have a lounge where you can sip on cocktails while you take in a view of the city and the Saigon and Mekong Rivers nearby, and it's really kick-ass. I'll post a bunch of those pics later.




Inside the Ben Thanh Market, where you can buy everything from iPho t-shirts to booze with snakes floating inside, tons and tons of fruits I'd never seen in my life, and coffee. I didn't buy any trinkets this time, but I did get the coffee.

Coffee in Vietnam is dark and thick, like pouring tar into a glass. The funny thing, though, is that it's also delicious. I had coffee more times than I can count while in country (had to use the phrase once), and it was always served with fresh or condensed milk and a ton of sugar and it's got to be some of the best I've ever had in my life, regardless of what flavor I picked or whether it was served at a coffee shop, little stall in a market, or in the hotel restaurant. Anyone who goes to Vietnam needs to do what I did and drink coffee as often as you can.




I'll finish my pics with the last one above. That guy doesn't look to interested in those nuts or whatever it is she's selling.