Airport Post

We're exhausted. Completely and absolutely. But it was all worth it.

Today was the most tiring day we had. I think that having a six hour flight ahead of you and hardly any money takes away some of the holiday spirit.

We decided to only exchange 一万円 (about AUS$100) today, and use it all on gifts and food for the day. Vietnam being the place it is, two people can eat very well, buy lots of presents, catch a couple of taxis and have a generally wonderful time for less than $100, but still, one is aware of one's resources slowly disappearing, and one becomes somewhat apprehensive about what might happen in an emergency. Still, we made it.

Today, after shopping for a couple of hours and checking out of the hotel, we traveled to Cholon to see some of the Pagodas there. There were some beautiful buildings, and when I get home, I'll post some pictures.

After the Pagodas, we decided to check out a local market. Which was an idea.

Cholon is about ten minutes from the city centre (district 1) where we spent most of our time. The further you get from the centre, the less western, less citified Ho Chi Minh becomes. There are a lot of animals, piss, and scooters flying at you from all directions. We had also been warned that there was a greater chance of being pick-pocketed, so we were on our guard the whole time.

After a couple of hours of the smell of piss in our noses, the amazing and abrasive sights and sounds of the market in our eyes and ears, and the constant fear of being robbed, losing our money, and worse our passports, we decided that we had had enough and got a taxi. (You have to be careful with taxis in Vietnam, a lot of companies are quite dodgy, and take you places you don't want to go, and charge extra to take you back.)

When we did get back, however, we were able to relax again, and upon reflection we were quite happy we had taken the trouble to visit Cholon. If I were to do it again, I'd take a little money but no passport, bags or camera. If you have nothing to lose, you could really enjoy it there.

One extra note: Cyclos.

On advice received, we avoided cyclos, the calls of the drivers (riders?) fell on amused ears. Today, we were...not harassed, but very enthusiastically pursued by one cyclo driver. We told him we weren't interested, but he persisted. Finally, upon exiting a shop about a minute's ride from the hotel we relented. I told him we'd pay him US$1 for the ride (quite a good rate for five minutes), and he agreed.

We arrived, and the two drivers (he decided his friend should help us out), asked for around $10 each in the local currency. After much arguing and recriminations, they agreed to take the US$1 each, smiled a lot, said thank you and said they hoped to see us tomorrow.

Moral: Agree on a price beforehand, it won't necessarily stop them trying to cheat you, but it will give you the moral high ground in any resulting argument.