Saigon and the end of the road.

So, after over four weeks we reach Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. And its some arrival, in pouring rain, after another, tough final day on the road. Perhaps you wonder why there is a dual name to the city. In 1975 Saigon was re-named Ho Chi Minh City after 'Uncle Ho' and as a mark of their victory in the war to achieve unification. However, most people found it hard to give up the old name so it is still called Saigon by many.

It was an eventful day as it was Melbourne Cup day so, given that we have 11 aussies on the trip we had to have a sweep stake. This was expertly organised by our ex-publicans and we duly drew lots. As luck would have it I had the favourite and, of course, he did not win. But coming in 3rd got me a prize. To top that Meryl got the second horse home. I guess this was not entirely good news but everyone enjoyed the fun. However, our entry into our lunch stop at a roadside restaurant, all dressed up in funny hats and being very noisy certainly awoke the 'locals' who were already seated. They must have wondered at the antics but said nothing….only stared!!

Getting into Saigon at about 5.30 pm in the rain and with local flooding affecting the roads was not the best of ideas! Saigon has a reputation of awful traffic jams and it certainly lived up to this reputation. The main problem is that the traffic in the main consists of bikes (they of course would say that the main problems are the 4 wheeled vehicles). They do not seem to understand the need to obey any traffic signal. They charge around as if they are exempt from the usual rules and pay little attention to other road users. A clear example of this is that when the join a main road they simply ride out onto the road and never look to see what is there already. Consequently, they can force other road users to take avoiding action or brake hard to avoid the collision. As the road is usually narrow that means you have a frustrated driver.

Our hotel was located somewhere in the mid town area, full of shops and tall buildings. Apparently the huge, tall thing (see photographs) is something of an icon although who in the right mind allowed it to have a heli pad half way up the tower is beyond me. No helicopter landed there whilst we were in town as far as I know. I guess it looks better at night, lit up and nowhere to go, but I did not get a photograph of it! As for the hotel, it offered somewhat smaller rooms than we had become use to but it was still good. Supper was on the roof that first night and we had a fantastic view over the illuminated city, once the rain had stopped. For only the 2nd or 3rd time since we began the trip did we bought a bottle of wine. It was on offer from Oz, a Berri Estates Red for the princely sum of $16 or 340,000 Dong.

So we had got to our last stop and we have two days left before flying home.