Back in the day, my Thailand manufacturer of bicycle tyres opened a factory in Vietnam just making motorcycle, scooter and moped tyres for the local market. A smart business move I think as Ho Chi Minh City is drowning in such vehicles
which does make crossing the roads quite entertaining – if you have a death wish-
as there seems to be a totally cavalier attitude to red and green lights.
These two wheeled vehicles are not merely confined to the roads.
The pavements are also cluttered with them adding more mayhem to an already chaotic street scene.
In between the general street melee, every once in a while a hint of Vietnam’s colonial past can be found
and I’m happy to say that some of these buildings have been well preserved.
The renovation of this colonial mansion which now houses the Vietnam Stock Exchange was completed last year and is a fair indication of how communism and capitalism are working well together, further confirmed by some brand new monuments built in praise of the great God Capitalism, close by.
Never mind about the thoughts of Chairman Mao, I wonder what Ho Chi Minh himself would think about the fusion of these two ideals as he looks down on a group of girls practicing their dance moves to the sound of some very western music!
The written Vietnamese language is quite frustrating as the letters seem quite westernised (as opposed to languages in China, Japan, Korea etc) but are meaningless to those not practised in the Vietnamese tongue. In short, it’s easy to get lost in HCM City.
which we did on a couple of occasions. However, after recharging our batteries with a drink, some spring rolls and a lovely mango salad we watched the world go by for a while
or not as the case may be,
worked out where we were and finally made it back to the hotel.
The staff here are very friendly and in comparison with some of the hostelries I have stayed in, the hotel is excellent value for money. We even have a turn down service in the evening. So there’s posh for you. In fact, the genuinely smiley room boy has just been, done his work and left me with a little souvenir.
Aaaah!
Tonight it’s the night market (in earnest this time) followed by more lovely food and even, perhaps a cleansing ale or two. This sightseeing in The Hot is very thirsty work!
Phileas
thelasthurrahsite 