Ho Chi Minh City 2

We were up fairly early this morning as we were to be picked up at 8:30 am by the ladies from XO Tours for our Saigon City motorbike tour. They arrived at the scheduled time, gave us some quick do’s and dont’s about riding in traffic, and we headed off into rush hour with our plastic buckets affixed to our heads.

Within 30 seconds we were in the middle of it all with hundreds of scooters ahead of us, hundreds behind us and riding at least 10 abreast. Initially it was scary as hell and thrilling at the same time. To be riding in that kind of traffic with other scooters, and the occasional car/truck/bus at your front, back, and sides mere inches (and quite often a lot less) away was an experience. It actually sounded like being in the middle of a swarm of bees with the buzzing of all the little scooter engines.

Initially we all had death grips with both hands on the seat rails, hanging on for dear life, except for Nat who had one hand clasped to her driver’s waist and the other firmly bolted to the rail (us boys weren’t allowed to touch the ladies). After a while our confidence grew and we eventually loosened up our grips. Keegan was trying his best to look nonchalant by not hanging onto anything and ended up sliding up the seat and slamming into his driver when she had to brake suddenly. Lesson learned.

We stopped at several sights where Tai, our excellent tour guide, would explain the significance of each. Of note, we visited the memorial built to commemorate the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire in 1963 to protest the government, of which there is the famous photo:

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/the-burning-mo…

And the building where the last helicopter out of Saigon took off from the rooftop in 1975 during the fall of Saigon

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Saigon

We also stopped at the Saigon Central Post Office, a beautiful French Colonial building, where we met a fascinating character. Mr. Ngo is 88 years old and has been working at the post office for over 70 years as a letter translator, translating letters from Vietnamese to English or French and vice versa. He is the last surviving letter translator in the city. Apparently he officially retired in 1990 but the city asked if he would continue his service, so he still shows up for work everyday, bicycling in from his home.

We made some other stops as well to sample Vietnamese desserts, fruits, and drinks. All in all a really enjoyable tour and highly recommended.

After our tour we chilled in our rooms for a while, cooling off yet again from the sticky heat before setting out to another craft beer pub. Several beers and some excellent pub food was enjoyed while we waited out a torrential downpour before heading back to the hotel.

Dinner tonight was at a French creperie, similar to what you would find in Paris and just as delicious. We are really enjoying the food in Saigon. I guess it’s the heavy French influence but it has all been very good, hotel breakfast not withstanding.

One annoying habit in this city that we have encountered many times is scooter driving on the sidewalk. Because the sidewalks here are much wider and have the space, many drivers circumnavigate slower traffic by driving on the sidewalk. They will even honk at you if you are in their path. It’s awfully tempting to throw a hip at those bastards as they pass by.Read more