Ấp Đông

February 28th.
We had heard Ho Chi Minh City (still called Saigon by most here) has exploded in economic development in the past 15 years, but were stunned by the cityscape on our approach up the river to city center. The photo shows the impressive development that changes the skyline on a yearly basis and demonstrates what can happen with an 8% annual growth in GDP per year.

A far cry from communist, this city of nine million inhabitants is swarming with street vendors and local businesses that combine with five million motorcycles to create a raucous, exciting, and rather overwhelming environment. All 5 million motorcycles appear to be on the streets at once and crossing the street is an art form involving a steady, slow pace as they swarm past you. Even the sidewalks aren’t safe since the motorcycles tend to intermittently spill onto them. We saw 4 people on a motorcycle several times and the most dramatic load was a big screen TV in a box.

I fulfilled a long-term dream of eating durian, a fruit that smells like rotting flesh, but tastes heavenly if eaten while holding one’s nose. It smells bad enough that it is banned from many markets and all restaurants and you can smell the vendors that have it while walking by. It is kept in plastic wrap to stifle the stench and the lady who sold me my durian wore plastic gloves to hand it to me. I ate my nice, ripe durian (the taste was not particularly heavenly) and paid the price the rest of the day. Ali was concerned I wouldn’t be let back on the ship.
The first photo is the approach to Ho Chi Minh City from the ship.
The second photo is of the ever-present motorcycles.
The third photo is of the night market in the heart of the city.Read more