HCMC - Day 1: Monsoon Season

It was raining as we left Da Lat and continued to do so for the entire duration of the 11 hour bus ride to Saigon (HCMC). Upon our arrival we found the streets quite flooded and thousands of Vietnamese commuters pushing their motorbikes (of which there are over one million in Saigon alone) through knee deep water. Luckily we avoided the deluge as the bus happened to drop us off very close to our hotel. We then watched from the hotel as the other Farang (read: white devils) slogged around in the streets.

Joe opted to check out another nearby hotel to ensure we were making the most educated (read: exhaustively researched) choice. Upon returning from his journey - beaming, soaked, and covered in mud - he was thrilled to report that he had participated in a "rat stomping". Apparently the flooding was causing the rats to pour out into the streets and he was asked to join-in as the locals removed their sandles to beat the rodents to death. Nice.

For our first meal in the city we chose a nearby Mexican restaurant. While the food was average, the Margerita's (buy two get one free) were extremely potent. Joe was soon half-drunk and poured into the streets to peruse the opium/marijuana selection of the many taxi driver/drug dealers. He determined that it was "of poor quality" and chose to forgo their invitations to the alleys.

For our first full day in Saigon we decided on the War Remnants Museum. This turned out to be a visceral and disturbing museum experience. Out of respect, we won't post any of the pictures here. However, we do have some nightmare inducing photos of fetuses that were deformed by Agent Orange.

Following this we were hungry and managed to meet of with a Canadian friend we met earlier: Wolfgang. He took us to a local spot that specialized in soft-shell crab. Between the three of us we sampled five different preparations of this particular species and were particularly impressed by the tamarind glazed whole crab.

More HCMC posts to follow.

Bye for Now,

Joe and Nicole


View from the bus upon arriving in Saigon.


Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon


The soft-shelled crabs, pre-in our bellies.

Nicole and Wolfgang seeking shelter.