Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Well, I am not sure where to begin when it comes to Saigon ~ this city has 11 million people in it, and probably just about as many motorbikes! However, it seems less chaotic than Hanoi, probably for several reasons: the streets are wider, they actually obey traffic signals, and they hardly use their horns! It is SO different from Hanoi, when I expected it to be worse. Really, as I have traveled south, traffic in general has improved. This is not to say that I don't at times fear for my life (we just met an Australian today who was on crutches and was heading back to Australia to have hip replacement surgery - even though he lives here - due to a broken hip from being hit by a motorbike while crossing the street) when stepping out into the street, especially since there are more roundabouts, and therefore many streets intersecting, and therefore more lanes to cross! Anyway, it took me about half of a day here to realize that they use their horns here way less, and so more of what you hear is the noise of just motorbikes rather than motorbikes and horns honking continuously.

I arrived later than anticipated into HCMC due to the bus leaving 2 hours late from Mui Ne, so around 8:30 p.m. Luckily, the bus dropped us off in the backpacker area, which was awesome. I then only had to try to find accommodation, and was happy that it wasn't quite so hot out as it had been in Mui Ne. It was actually difficult once again to find a place to stay. Either the prices were more than I wanted to spend, or the places were full. I ran into some people that I had met in Hue, and they directed me to the alley they were staying in, which was full of guest houses. I ended up getting a VERY pink room for $10/night, which was still more than I wanted to spend, but sometimes you just want to get that pack off and lie down! The next morning, having decided that I could indeed find a better place, like maybe one with air conditioning and hot water, I once again headed out. This served only to frustrate me more since most places continued to charge about the same rate. I ended up settling on one basically because I was sick of looking and because they had more than one computer, and I thought Heleen was coming to join me, so it had three twin beds in it. Once I packed up my bags at the first place and headed over and checked into the room at the new place, I checked my email only to find out that Heleen was not going to be coming that night. So I asked if they wanted to change me to a single room, and she gave me a new key. I went up to the fifth floor where the new room was, only to find it in even worse condition than the previous room - the tv didn't work (not surprising in this country and in budget places, and not a huge deal), there were small ants crawling around in large numbers, and most importantly, the fan didn't work! I stood there for a bit, trying to imagine myself sleeping in that room with no air movement and ants crawlingon me, and went back downstairs to tell them I couldn't stay in that room because the fan didn't work. This is the point where I had the first mini-breakdown of my trip. As she was deciding what to do, and ended up just saying that I could have the original room (thankfullly), I started to cry. There comes a time while traveling that this eventually happens to everyone, or so I am told. I am sure it will happen to me more, and on a much larger scale, at some point in the future, but this felt bad enough at the time that I really thought I would lose it right there in front of those poor ladies. I politely thanked her and headed up to the original room, where I took a bit of time to be sad. Thankfully, it passed quickly. I think it just came from 3 weeks of staying in less-than-ideal accommodations, and in general putting up with a lot less than what I am used to. When all is said and done, this is what I signed up for, and most of the time it is ok or at least tolerable, but I think it just came to a culmination at that point. Not surprisingly, this sad moment also equaled my first real lonely and homesick moment as well. After a short time collecting myself, I put on a smile and headed out to explore the city that I was so lucky to be in!
That afternoon, I basically just got lost (on purpose), and eventually found my way back to the hotel. I have found the people to be the most friendly here, and feel they have gotten more so the further south I have come. It's really awesome to be walking along lost in thought, and then to look up and see someone staring at me, to give them a smile and have them smile back - like a private little moment with a local:) Today, as I was walking, a motorbike crossed in front of me with two adults and a little girl in the middle, probably about 3 years old. She was staring at me, so I waved as they passed, and when I was on the other side of them I looked back to find her looking and waving ~ for some reason it made me giddy to have that special interaction with her! I also had some semblance of a conversation with an older man in the park. I was resting on a bench, enjoying the shade as well as watching the older people doing their little exercises (this is really sweet to watch, very similar to the Chinese actually), when he appeared and started talking to me. I really thought he was not speaking English, and so I mostly kept smiling at him and telling him I didn't understand. Eventually, he sat down with me, and only when he read something in my Lonely Planet did I realize that he was speaking English! I continued, however, to not really be able to understand anything he said, but it was still a nice interaction.

The next morning, I left with a group of others to head 2 hours out of town to the Cu Chi tunnels. This used to be an extensive network of underground living and hiding spaces for both Vietnamese soldiers as well as civilians during the war. Our guide, Tung, was about 64 years old and really made the experience for all of us. He was actually born in the town of Cu Chi, and fought in the war as a Viet Cong member and had two scars from being shot, one on his arm and one on his leg. He told us that when he got injured, he had to go to the underground hospital. The tunnels were crazy, and by crazy, I mean I DO NOT know how they lived down there in such small spaces, often without light or fresh air. I guess when you are afraid you will die above ground, that is the only option, but still, it really is amazing to think about. They had kitchens and sleeping areas down there as well. There was a point at the end where you could walk through a section of the tunnel, and I asked Tung if I could take my bag in with me and he said no problem. Actually, it was a problem. The space was so small that my bag was hitting against the ceiling and the wall, and I was on my knees some of the time, so I had to go up the first chance I got. This made me sad, as I really wanted to do the whole section, to really get a feel for what they went through. The people who did the whole thing said it was pretty intense, often completely black and crawling on hands and knees. At least I did a small section of it, and have sore quads today to prove it (I can't imagine how the people feel who did the whole thing)! One of the most awesome parts of the tour for me was that we had been hearing gut shots the whole time, which got louder the further we went. A few of us remarked that it was neat sound effects to have that fake shooting going on in the background, as if the war was really happening. Then, we arrived at the shooting range! There were all kinds of rifles and machine guns there, and we could actually buy bullets and shoot some guns! I was a bit leary at first, mainly because I couldn't see the shooters so I was thinking that these huge guns were going to have huge kick and therefore practically kill me with pain (now, of course, I realize that they couldn't really bring a bunch of tourists in a let them just shoot sub-machine guns at whim), so I initially stayed back when most of the group went down to shoot. I kept thinking about it, though, so much so that another girl said to me, "You really want to do it, don't you?" She was right. I just kept thinking that I would never live it down in my family (of hunters, mainly my Dad and brother Steve) if I had the chance to shoot these awesome guns and didn't! I talked to another girl who had done it, and she assured me that they were mounted and that it was pretty cool. So, I bought myself 10 bullets for an M-60 rifle (they made you buy 10 for this one), at more than my daily budget has been for awhile, I might add. 10 bullets cost 300,000 dong, or $15! I am really happy that I did it, though! I thought they would all be gone quickly, as they had been for the girl I talked to. But, after I shot one bullet, I realized that I could pull the trigger for each shot, so I actually aimed at 4 different targets ~ shooting guns is SO fun! The guy that (barely) showed me how to do it, and by that I mean he basically grunted at where I was to put my fingers/hands, took a couple of pictures of me, which I can't wait to post!

Dad and Steve, I hope you are proud of me! Anyway, then Tung was upset with me because I delayed the group, but it was worth it! As previously mentioned, Tung was awesome, and just such a happy guy that has had a very interesting life. He kept singing songs for us, with the sound of Vietnamese music, but in English, and mainly about tourists coming to Vietnam and taking the memory of it with them forever:)

On the way back, they dropped some of us off at the War Remnants Museum. I was very interested in going there over most other places in Saigon, and it did not disappoint. I don't feel like I can adequately describe what I learned there, or how it made me feel, other than to say that there were times when it was all I could do not to start openly bawling. It has led me to wonder a lot more about the war and our (the U.S.) motives for going, and inflicting the pain that they did on innocent people, and to want to ask a lot more questions of those who were alive during the war, and to read more about it. Like I said, I don't feel like I can describe it well in words, so I won't try. It was definitely a day of history lessons for me, and a sad day indeed.
On my way back from the museum, I was standing at a particularly crazy intersection, watching the insanity of traffic and waiting to cross, when a guy walked up next to me. We just looked at each other and smiled - how can you not just smile when this is where you are and what your daily life is, at least for this moment in time? Anyway, we ended up chatting for a long time and getting dinner. I love how easy it is to meet people while traveling, and it really makes me wish that regular life could be more like that. I would say I have maybe 15 new facebook friends in a matter of three weeks of traveling! What is even more amazing is that you can talk for a few hours and feel like you are such good friends, and know so much about each other, and that you will possibly not ever see each other again, but you will always remain friends!
My friend Heleen arrived last night as well, which is awesome because that basically cuts the cost of my room per night in half, not to mention that I am happy to have a friend to hang out with. Today has been a rather lazy day for me in Saigon, which is needed once in awhile. After walking around the city for hours every day, I eventually feel like I have seen enough and walked enough. The funny thing is that I am not sure if I am just improving that much with my sense of direction and map-reading skills, or if I just walked around in enough in the same general area (which is a huge area, by the way), but I really feel like I know this city better than any previous to this one, and it's the biggest by far! For instance, we walked to the post office today and I figured out the way there and back without getting lost once - this is pretty impressive for me! I mailed my first package home - initially they had everything set for the fast way, or by plane. No one asked me when I got there which way I wanted it sent, so when they eventually quoted a price to me and it was over $30, I asked if there was a cheaper way and they said yes, on the slow boat, taking possibly over 3 months and most likely getting damaged. I said yes please! I don't care too much about the contents - it is basically things that I have decided I don't need/want and they take up room in my heavy pack, so I have very much been looking forward to getting them sent off. So dad, you may eventually see a warped package arrive from Vietnam...maybe, someday!

Initially I didn't think I liked HCMC as much as Hanoi, but now I realize that there is a sort-of infectious quality about it, in a good way, of course. I have really enjoyed it, and am happy that it has been one of my last places in Vietnam. Tomorrow morning I will head to the Mekong Delta (where the VERY long Mekong River finally flows into the ocean), which sounds beautiful, for three days, ending with an 8-hour boat ride up the river and into Cambodia. I think it will be pretty neat to cross a border by boat! Another thing I am very excited about is doing a homestay while I am there - some of us will stay with a local family and have breakfast and dinner with them, as well as sleep there! The Delta sounds like it's going to be really neat, and I am looking forward to it. Please be patient with the picture posting - I am going to try to do some right now, but this place was supposed to close 15 minutes ago, so I may not get any done. Here's hoping though! Please continue to enjoy reading, and offer up any suggestions and comments on the blog! Supposedly there may be a map of my route coming in the near future!