Vietnam - Saigon and the Mekong Delta

From Dalat I headed south to the city of Saigon (well it's actually called Ho Chi Minh City now but most people still refer to it as Saigon). On my bus there were two couples (one from Canada and one from Holland) that were on the same boat tour in Nhatrang so we became friends fast and were my travel buddies for the next couple of days to come.
When we finally arrived in Saigon the city was everything I thought it to be, insane. If I remember correctly from one of my tour guides, there are 2 million motorbikes in Saigon so you can imagine what the streets looked like. Crossing the street is quite the rush, you just slowly walk and make sure you keep the same pace and the bikes magically go around you.
On my first day in Saigon I explored the city on foot. First I walked to the old presidents palace (now called the reunification palace), kind of like the old white house of Vietnam when the south was run by a democracy. In 1975 it was here that tanks crashed through the front gates to signal the fall of Saigon and the beginning of the reunification of Vietnam. I went on a free tour of the palace and learned a lot about the Vietnam war (or as they say in Vietnam the American war) from a different perspective.

Reunification palace

Inside the palace, very 60's

From there I walked to the main market in town where I stopped at one of the stalls for lunch and did some shopping. After that I went to the war museum which was definitely a learning experience from the other side of the story. It was almost like walking into a genocide museum. I have never learned as much as I did this day about the Vietnam war and the ugly sides of it. There are images I saw there that I will never forget and will spare you the description. Just know that the quote below was the first thing I saw before entering the main room of the museum.

If you can't read the bottom, this is from the US declaration of independence

The next day I joined my travel buddies and we went on a day tour of the Cu Chi tunnels outside of town. During the Vietnam war the people of Cu Chi used a vast system of tunnels to not only escape US soldiers but to use it to their advantage to attack as well. Originally they were built during French colonial times but were later extended when the US came to Vietnam. This was another interesting thing to see from "the other side". It was strange to see examples the the horrific booby traps set up for the US soldiers. In short it was a very interesting tour and I was amazed the Cu Chi craftsmanship.

Giving an example of a "fox hole" commonly used as a way to escape into the tunnels

The Cu Chi people were obviously tiny and apparently not claustrophobic, I crawled through about 200 meters of tunnels

That evening after dinner with Kim, Brian, Alex, and Judie I went out for some drinks with some friends I met at my hostel. We of course went to one of the bars I described in my last blog (the closet sized room with seating for 5 year olds). So while having a few beers I get a tap on my shoulder and look up to find myself face to face with my friend Anthony I grew up with in Marin! Small world. We hung out and had a few more beers, it was a lot of fun. He has been living in Saigon for 6 months teaching English.

Kim, Brian, Alex, and Judie out at one of our many dinners together

Anthony and his girlfriend, Zuzana

The next day I left with my traveling crew on a 2 day tour of the Mekong Delta. To make a long day short we were mainly on a boat going through different parts of the Mekong all day observing river life. It was beautiful. The next day we went to the town of Can Tho where the largest floating market in the Mekong Delta takes place. It was a great way to start the morning. Each boat would have one piece of each type of produce it provided hanging on this tall bamboo stick to advertise what it was selling. Most of the people doing the buying were getting large quantities, it was an interesting part of life to observe.

River life outside of Saigon

Cruising in a small boat through one of the many arms of the Mekong Delta

Making coconut candy, one of the specialties of the area

Passing pineapples from vendor to buyer

See the produce on the bamboo stick?

River life outside of the city

After a little more boating around the delta the groups split up some going to Cambodia, some back to Saigon, and then me going on my own to the port town of Rach Gia where I wanted to take a boat to the island of Phu Quoc. My way of transportation to Rach Gia was a seat on the local bus and I'm sorry I didn't take more these in my time in Vietnam. Imagine a small bus, like the ones you see on wine tours or something, and imagine about 30 people on it. I was in the back row with 5 people when it was meant for 4. People were in the aisles on small plastic stools. We would stop on the way and pick up produce and stuff it in and have it later dropped off at some other location. They take advantage of their transportation in Vietnam.
When I arrived in Rach Gia I was told by my hotel that no boats were going to Phu Quoc for 4 days because a typhoon was expected to arrive that evening. This put a damper on my plans but was told I could fly. After checking the weather and deciding a 40% chance of rain wasn't too bad I decided to get up early the next morning to see what flights I could get at the airport. That evening while wondering to find a place to eat, which was hard because Rach Gia isn't exactly set up for tourists, I walked by a group of 3 Vietnamese guys eating and drinking beer. They said hello, I said hello and kept walking and then decided I should ask them if they knew of a good place to eat. Well "hello"was the extent of their English so when I tried to mime food they pulled up a chair for me and before I knew it I had a glass of beer myself and was learning how to say cheers in Vietnamese. I then got a menu that wasn't in English but fortunately had a picture of a chicken by one part of the menu. So I played the close my eyes and point game and ended up with one of the best meals I had in Vietnam. You would be amazed how well you can communicate over a dinner with people who don't speak your language.
The next morning I woke up to blue sky and decided to check out the boat situation before heading to the airport and was pleasantly surprised they were running. Phu Quoc here I come!