Whiskey Saigon

I'm not as funny as Tim, and my posts are much less detailed, but I include photos! That must count for something, right?

On January 2 we took the bus from Mui Ne to Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon. I guess we should address the name right away so that I don't have to type all that every time. After the north won the war Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, in honour of everyone's favourite communist. We gather this was a bit of a tough pill to swallow for the locals so most people here still referred to it as Saigon. We will follow suit. When in Rome...

We hit the city. Saigon has a very unique character that can be accurately labelled as well-organized chaos (vs. complete chaos in Hanoi). It almost felt like we were in another country; it's more modern, energetic and vibrant than any other place we have been in Vietnam. I know I sound like a tour guide but it's the only way I can think describe it. (The fantastic weather may have influenced my perception again, I admit.) Reunification Palace was like a time warp back to 1970's. The War Remnants Museum was an intense complement to the DMZ sights to the north. After much searching we found the incredible Jade Emperor Pagoda which felt like being in Indiana Jones, except for a few really bizarre technicolour worship altars.

We went on a couple of day tours including the Mekong Delta where we saw candied ginger, banana chips and coconut candy in the works (okay this may not have been the highlight for Tim, but I'm writing this post so I make the call). We also visited the Cu Chi tunnels, from where the Viet Cong launched the attack to take Saigon - right under the Americans' noses. It's a source of great national pride for the communists and comes with the requisite propaganda video. One rarely gets the chance to fire an AK-47 (at least not where we come from), so Tim happily shelled out a few dollars for the opportunity at the shooting range. More new pictures in Flickr.

With a new year, a new appreciation for iced coffee (not even remotely similar to an Iced Capp from Tim Hortons) and a new currency to figure out we said goodbye to Vietnam and headed for Cambodia. We never intended to spend a whole month here, but this country just wins you over!