She Wears the Pants, He Looks at Plants: HCMC

This is the traffic during "slow" part of the day

I had been nervous to motorbike into Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) after hearing crazy stories about the chaos of millions of scooters but we seemed to dodge the bullet by arriving at mid day. It was such an amazing feeling but bittersweet since we were missing two members of our gang. We became very attached to our bikes and it was hard to see them go. We made ourselves comfortable in a decent guesthouse and waited for our bikes to sell. HCMC has a great area to hang out and enjoy a CHEAP draft beer and some good street food! On any given street you are bound to find at least one stall selling tropical fruit, one selling delicious Vietnamese style iced coffee, and a pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) stand all sold for $1 or less. Vietnam, I'm going to miss you! It's a social place and from the early evenings and into the night, beer alley is bustling with foreigners and locals alike. People on tiny stools pour into the street while vendors peddle freshly cut mangoes, peanuts to munch on, and squid jerky. You are crammed into any available space and make new friends as a result. We met a couple of guys John and Johnny that work for a graphic design firm based in HCMC. John is a cool guy from Kansas and Khang, or Johnny as he is known by his English speaking friends, is a fun and spunky local who was eager to tell us his likes and dislikes of his country. He showed us around town and suggested some great places to eat and visit. We met up with some of his friends for some dancing at bar with one of the better Adele and Lady Ga Ga covers I've heard in a while.

New friends!

This cutie posed for us while we enjoyed our roadside coffee

Night Life

cribbage, beer, and a mango :)

We spent some time visiting some of the war memorial sites in Ho Chi Minh City. The two most popular sites are the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi tunnels. Both are generally uncomfortable to be at as an American. At the war museum, the atrocities of war (the brutal murders and the effects of agent orange) are graphically portrayed in a very nationalistic way. The Cu Chi tunnels are maze of tunnels that hid Vietcong forces near the capital and proved very hazardous to those unfortunate GI's who served in this area. You're guided through the tiny tunnels and stop at the booby trap exhibit, all of which are a variations of bamboo spears setup underneath a camoflouge trap, and the guides crack jokes at every site. Tourist laugh uneasily at the banter whether American or otherwise. It seems in a modern Vietnam where a relationship with the US is very apparent, such overtly one sided commentary about an always unfortunate subject could be altered.


booby traps

drying rice paper

After the guide's torture "comedy" routine, you're corralled to a place where you can buy bullets and shoot guns for $1 per bullet. Another money maker and popular with the young men. There were a few guys in our group that said this is the only reason they came. These places are definitely worth a visit to better understand the environment of wartime but it's frustrating when it feels more like an amusement park and less like a war site.

Reunification Palace

Pictures of Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho) are all throughout the country. This one is front and center in the HCMC post office.

Notre Dame

Since riding the bikes, we have been on hiatus from using our two feet as a mode of transport. We became fond of evening running sessions at the park around the corner. At 5:30pm, the weather becomes bearable and the locals flock to the park for exercise of their choice. There are groups aerobisizing to the latest hits, couples swinging at shuttlecocks, an old man practicing Thai Chi, an older woman practicing sword dance fighting, barefoot boys playing a soccer match on the concrete, a group artistically showing off their skills in da cau or "feather ball" (a weighted shuttlecock that is used to play a game similar to hackie sack) and always a guy peeing on the wall. This became my favorite part of the day.