The Heat in Saigon

I have heard a lot of not so good stories about this place that it lessened my excitement for the whole trip.


With those low expectations came a lot of nice surprises for this friendly city very close to home.

The first thing we did was exchange money, and when we saw the rates our brain cells stopped working at 1am. Should we get the 1 usd=19750 or the 1 usd=19300? We didn't know that one shop has 3% commission and the other doesn't have. Anyway, thank God for pinoy exchange forums and its very helpful tips, we knew where to exchange for Dongs, the second shop from the left (never mind the math).

With PEX tips on my mind, we knew what taxi fleet to avoid in the airport. So we didn't pay attention to the persistent guy who followed us to the water closet (Yes, that’s what they call ‘em there) and ask where we're going. We took Vina Taxi which charged us 130,000 dong.

It should've been 90,000 dong only. Anyway, it was early morning so we didn't mind the additional 40,000 dong or 50 pesos.

After 20 minutes, the cab dropped us off in a dark alley with people sleeping on make-shift beds along the alley. It was a scary sight but then we saw another batch of tourists behind us, so we figured this alley must be the guesthouse lane, Pham Ngu Lao. We rang the doorbell three times before anybody opened the door for us. The "front desk" officer was already asleep so we woke her up.

The place we'll be staying at is called Blue River but the girl at the reception didn't understand at first what we're saying. After a few exchanges, she was able to explain to us that we're at the wrong address, we should be at Blue River 2.

At 2am, we realized we were starving. So Tim, Noe and I decided to eat first before heading for Blue River 2.

Our first pho was at a busy street corner full of locals and a few tourists at 3am. The pho was good and only 30,000 dong or 70 pesos.

Then what followed is an assortment of adventures and mis-adventures with a lot of mini- discoveries. The city had a lot of nice surprises that reaffirmed the mantra; it's the journey not the destination.

Here are a few of my discoveries:

1. The locals prefer speaking French over English

2. Shell and Caltex left, only state-owned company like Petrolimex are the controlling Vietnam's oil industry

3. Catholics from the north moved to the south during the war

4. Two things they know about the Philippines, Abu Sayaff and Ampatuan massacre

5. Guide doesn't have passport because he doesn't want anything to do with the government

6. They like taking babies (yes even infants) for a motorcyle ride and just cover ‘em up with a mini-mosquito net

7. Almost everyone is friendly

8. A driver can clean his ears using an ice-pick looking gadget while driving

9. Lottery numbers are displayed along the road

10. Local channels outnumber foreign ones in cable

11. They put octane number (MOGAS 92) on the pumps, di uso branding, no price board

12 You'll rarely see English signage unless it's a brand

13 Shows and movies are dubbed with only one voice overlaid with the original English dialogue (ang hirap intindihin)

14 Bihira matataba dito

15 10 million people in saigon, 7 million motorbikes

16 They don’t show Oscars (what is that anyway?) here

17 15 people die everyday because of motorcycle accidents

18 there are no one-way streets, everybody can drive whichever direction they want to

19 Despite the seemingly "crazy streets", they actually have traffic rules and driving license tests (but I met a Filipino who has been driving a motorcycle for 4 years with no license)

20 Don’t rely on traffic lights, motorists don’t follow them anyway

21 When you cross, don't stop, just walk and the motorcycles will just avoid you

22 US embargo from 1975 to 1990 (Bill Clinton lifted the embargo in 1990s)

23 China and Viet nam learned their lessons from communist governments which failed

24 Music is a decade behind (imagine Ace of Base and Rick Astley) hillary our busmate said because they didn't have a youth culture then

25 Vietnamese are really friendly to pinoys (halika kayo!)