Sizzle in the city

And so we were in Ho Chi Minh City/Siagon. This place has had 4 different names, picked by the Cambodians, French and Vietnamese. Most people especially inside the city still refer to it as Saigon but the north renamed it a year after the south was won over and reunified.

The temperature here is in the low to to mid 30's so it doesn't take much to become a sweaty mess!

We didn't know what to expect on arriving. We had heard it was must more overpopulated than Hanoi and also there is more problems with petty crime. However Saigon is also a lot more developed and westernised than anywhere else we have visited. They are just about to open the first Mcdonalds here, so expect to see a few Vietnamese people looking like large bowling balls in a few years time.

We walked to the Reunification Palace, which was the house for the Southern Vietnamese President before he surrendered to the North, and also to the Notre Dame Cathedral and Central Post Office both examples of architecture from the French era.

On our last visit to Vietnam my friend Darren introduced us to the concept of 'owling'. This is the act of squatting on a a object and watch the world go by, which seems to happen a lot in this part of the world. One thing I noticed in Saigon is that there is definitely some luxury owling going on. At least 5 times now I have seen people stretched across there motorcycles either looking around or sleeping.

After dinner that night we were approached by two Vietnamese men who wanted to talk with us to practise their English. One of them had just started learning English 3 months ago, considering he was quite clear and he was able to talk without having to ask his friend for some translation. We talked about our trip, what we did for work and managed to fend off too much talk about football - it does seem to be one of the topics that most people want to talk about. The guy other guy who's name translates to 'Right' in English works as a .Net developer so there was some geek speak for a few minutes. We have exchanged emails so I can give them a hand with English along the way.

Temple count: 53

Noodle count: 11

Hours travelled: 52