Day 15 - 20: Halloween in Ho Chi Minh

6 Days in Saigon

view from bus window on route to HCMC

We locked up our bikes in storage in Phnom Penh and headed to Ho Chi Minh City by bus.  It is reportedly very difficult to get permission to drive bikes across the border into Vietnam.  After 7 hours on the road we arrived in Pham Ngu Lao - the Khao San Road of Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon).  Enticing smells drifting from the numerous Pho (soup) stands and cafes and lots of street vendors peddling various merchandise.  A man selling sunglasses will persistently show numerous pairs even though you are clearly wearing sunglasses at the time and snack vendors will approach customers while they sit and eat at a cafe to offer peanuts and fruit.  Still others start by offering cigarettes and lighters and then proceed through marajuana, opium, heroine... Everything is for sale in this Communist free market economy.  

Halloween was a chaotic affair on our street, bringing crowds of families and revelers on their bikes who filled the streets to capacity and beyond.  Several zombies, painted faces and masks were around, but otherwise there were fewer costumes than spectators. 

We went to see the "AO Show" at the Opera House which had great acrobatics, contortion, juggling and dance.  Starting with 'rustic Vietnam' with woven bowl boats, fans and bamboo poles to modern city scenes with breakdancing and power outages.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP3q-pjY4g4

In lofty District 2 you could think you were in Sydney or Paris with architecture like the Opera House, People's Committee Hall, 5 Star Hotels and Hi-So shopping such as Versace, Hermes and Rolex luxury brands.  But if you hop on a motorbike and drive just 10 minutes along the riverside you'd see the city's poorest area with shacks of rusty corrugated steel on stilts lining one edge of the murky Saigon River, whose stench in these parts is enough to turn your stomach.

The motorcycle part of this blog was riding on the back of a motorcycle taxi all around town and of course being delighted by the size and diversity of the extreme Bikes of Burden to be seen in Vietnam - the best I've seen anywhere. 

Victory in war with France

Celebrate the beginning of Communism in Vietnam

"This one is too hop", said Goldilocks

Halloween in Ho Chi Minh

Halloween in Ho Chi Minh

Halloween in Ho Chi Minh

Opera House in District 2

People's Committee Hall

Watchful boats on the Saigon River

Shacks on stilts along the Saigon River

Fish tanker

Traveling salesman

Sleeper class

To market, to market to buy a fat pig...

Family of 5!!!

Good to keep hydrated when you travel

Family of 5 checking out Halloween in Pham Ngu Lao