First impressions

Posted on by

So far, so good. Still feeling my way around Saigon/HCMC, but I rather like it. In fact, Vietnam is now ahead of Cambodia as a “Plan B” option should life in the Philippines not work out. Saigon (I prefer that name and will use it henceforth) is comparatively clean (isn’t everywhere compared to the PI?), modern, and bustling. I have never in my life seen so many damn motor scooters! I’m pressed for time this afternoon, so let’s let the photos do the talking.

DAY 1: Nice airport, only hold up was the visa process took about 30 minutes, but sailed through immigration/customs. Hotel transportation was there waiting and whisked us to the Lotus Central hotel.

It is a clean and functional 8 story hotel and I’m very comfortable here so far. Around 50 bucks a night.
Room is smallish, bed is comfortable, wifi works well.
Seeing this put a smile on my face. I do miss my bidet days…
Up on the roof is this lovely swimming pool which I’ve not used and probably won’t. In fact, I haven’t seen anyone else using it either…
The rooftop also affords beautiful views of the city like this one. This is similar to the view from my room, only 2 floors down.
Another shot of the Saigon skyline…
My first meal in Vietnam was this chicken dish for lunch. Big bag of fries came with it. It was in this back alley cafe near my hotel where I enjoyed street side dining…
And my first Vietnamese beer.

I did a quick walk around the neighborhood, then had to get ready for a meetup with some old friends from my Seoul days who live here now. I had an address and a Grab driver dropped me off at said address. But there was no bar to be seen there. So I walked over to the bar district and started asking other bar patrons where Shooters bar might be. Most didn’t know or gave me wrong directions. Finally, an American in a bar was able to give me specific detailed guidance on reaching my destination. Which took me right back to where the Grab car had left me. What the hell? About that time my friend Alex arrived.

He apologized for the confusion and pointed up to the 3rd floor. I still didn’t see it as the bar has absolutely no signage. We walked into what looked like an office lobby and took an elevator upstairs.

It’s a tiny place, even smaller than Alley Cats, my local darts venue in the PI. Very narrow, but has 4 dart boards with computerized scoring. Actually very nicely done.

I got drafted to play with Alex’s team in a league match against the top rated team in Saigon. We got our asses kicked, but I did manage to win a best of 5 singles match 3-1. So, I can add Vietnam to the countries in which I’ve played competitive darts (USA, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines).

And it was of course really great catching up with my old mates John (on the left) and Alex.
After darts I walked back to the hotel. A little drunk but not hungry enough to eat here (yet).
Settled for nice bowl of chicken pho at a place near the hotel. Sorry the pic is so shitty. Maybe I was drunker than I remember.

Day 2: Took a good long walk in the city to see what I could see. Saw the Ho Chi Minh museum with some captured American tanks and planes out front and thought about having a looksee, but changed my mind thinking I’d find the actual war museum I’d heard about. I didn’t though.

There was this cool tree though…

I guess snapping that photo tagged me as a tourist because the vendors descended upon me. One guy actually started “repairing” my shoes with glue. I’m like WTF, no thanks! But he kept right on. Then he untied my shoe and that was enough, I just walked away.

A Saigon street. Those cycle and hammer banners are everywhere…
A monument to some past hero I suppose. Crossing streets here is insane for a pedestrian. I read somewhere that you are suppose to just keep your stride and pace as you cross and the motorbikes and cares will avoid you. I tried that and I guess it worked, or at least I wasn’t hit. Later I crossed with some locals and I noticed that they did in fact slow down to let cars and bikes go past. Geez, it’s a mystery how anyone lives to tell the tale of crossing some of these busy highways. Heh, I guess I just did though, didn’t I?
Made it to the banks of the Saigon river. I’m still considering taking one of these “water buses” while I’m here, but haven’t yet. Tomorrow I’m doing an all day tour to the Mekong river delta…
Needed some liquid refreshment and spied this rooftop bar name Sai Gone. Cold beer and hot waitresses! I was the only customer for awhile…
Enjoyed “Cheap Charlies” like views, although the street action featured many young Vietnamese women instead of the old men of Barretto….

Met an American couple from California enjoying their honeymoon and shared some beers with them. I’m now Facebook friends with the wife! It started raining hard about the time I was planning to leave, so what could I do? Stay for more beer of course! Hey, I’m on vacation!

It was back to Sai Gon that night where I expected to meet some Hashers. I didn’t see any. Later as one guy was leaving he saw my Hash attire and said I could join them for a run on Sunday. Meet up at the Caravelle hotel. Let’s see if I can find it.

Very drunk end to the day, but once again I successfully found my way back home to the hotel. Day 3 report will have to wait as I have plans for more explorations in the bar district tonight and need to prepare.

Peace out!

7 thoughts on “First impressions”

  1. Was getting worried because of the absence of posts. Had visions of you covered in stab wounds and bleeding out into a rain gutter somewhere. Luckily, that turned out not to be the case.

    Nice pics! Sai Gon, Sai Gone—it all gets kind of confusing.

    I tried Googling your fascinating tree. The closest I got was “mam xoi con ga,” but according to this page, there’s only one such tree in Vietnam, so I don’t think that that tree is the same species as your tree.

    Wanna see a pic of you eating street food on a stick. Some critter with more than four legs, preferably.

  2. HaHa, well, right after posting this installment, I just missed getting run over by a motorbike. My fault too since I was jaywalking. And no, it was BEFORE I started drinking, so no excuses. I’ll be smarter.

    I’m not a big street food kind of guy but I’ll see what I can do to keep a reader happy!

  3. You’re practicing your real-life Frogger skills, I guess.

    I’m very curious about Vietnamese food culture, but please don’t do anything you don’t wanna do.

  4. John just remember that some of us are living vicariously through you and your experiences.

    Also, it has been decided and I will be there in Korea this time next year permanently. We bought land that is connected to Ji Youngs families land.

  7. Indeed it is. It certainly wasn’t torture to stay there! In fact, overall I got the best and friendliest service I’ve ever had while there. And I’ve stayed in LOTS of hotels over the years…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *