Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City

Crazy place. The end. Lol.
I learned a lot about the culture here. As well as the weather. They have two seasons, rainy and dry. (Hot and hotter). It took almost 2 hours to travel from the harbor to the city. We traveled through tons of rice patties, tapioca fields, and poverty. Primary mode of transportation is via scooter. And they make up traffic laws as they go. Most of the scooters had only two people but a large percentage had children as well. Even babies laying on the handle bars. They have a helmet law for adults but children don’t have to wear them.

We went to Notre Dam Cathedral, the huge post office, Dong Kohi street, and the central market. Lunch was at one of the few nice air conditioned restaurants we found with a semi safe looking menu. At central market we tried to hide at a coffee shop with WiFi, AC, and a public bathroom. (Most of the local coffee shops are open air and filled with hammocks). Pho 2000 is the place allegedly Bill Clinton are at while he was here.

Central Market was an experience for sure. SO MANY PEOPLE, and it was necessary to literally hold my phone and money in my pocket due to pic pockets. I’m going to leave the smells to your imagination. Very aggressive sales people begging me to buy anything.

Schools here cost families $150 a month so lots of people go in educated. The wealthy people trying to get out of the country pay around 30k to try to cross the border illegally.

The motorbikes kill about 15,000 people annually.Read more