Miss Saigon-Hingrajia-Patel

Saigon got off to a rough start. We landed at the airport late at night and were greeted by our hotel pick-up person….the only problem was that her husband (the actual driver) was passed out drunk in the car. Apparently he drank too much and didn’t want to drive us. She tried to wake him up but he just brushed her off….not to mention at this point I wasn’t about to get into a car with him. (By the way, this totally didn’t help my perception of Vietnamese men as the poor woman tried to bail her husband out!) So we ended up taking a taxi which was fine but when we got to our hotel they tried to shove us into a pretty dingy, windowless room in the middle of the building with a combo shower/toilet room….If you’ve never seen these they suck because you take a shower and then the bathroom is wet all day! At this point I was pretty pissed because she tried to tell me that it was a Superior room which it completely wasn’t, and I booked this room months ago and paid extra for a Superior room (making sure the room had a window and a separate shower room.) Really I’m not that high maintenance but I know they gave our room to someone else and it just makes me mad when people try to lie to me. So then they shoved us to their sister hotel in a room that was bigger but still pretty ghetto. We decided that we’d stay 1 night and then just switch hotels the next day.

In the morning though, the manager, apologized profusely and showed us another room….one that was actually a Superior room and we switched happily. From that moment on, the hotel (Beautiful Saigon Hotel) was pretty amazing and made up for all the crap on the first day. We were right in the Pham Ngu Lao area, which is the main backpacker area, with lots of touristy restaurants and bars. This was the first time we were that close to the main backpacking district. It has its pros and cons. Its fun because there are lots of tourists and things to do at night but you also don’t get much of the local flavor. That said it was a nice, safe, central location and we walked all over the city during the day so got to experience different areas as well. We were right next to Go2 and Crazy Buffalo – two bars that are pretty popular….and our favorite restaurant in our hood was Mumtaz Indian restaurant. I think it was some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had….and they even had dosa!

One of our favorite areas was the Dong Khai area which was a bit more upscale with nice shopping and higher end restaurants. We spent a lot of time there during the days because the cafes had air conditioning that worked! Some of our favorite restaurants in Dong Khai were Hoa Tuc (contemporary Vietnamese….most amazing Lemongrass Chicken) and Quan An Ngon (Vietnamese street food....similar to the one in Hanoi).

There is such a difference between North and South Vietnam. Personally, I like Saigon better. I just found there to be more diversity of people and neighborhoods and the locals were friendly and not so “in your face” in terms of selling stuff. It’s also just more cosmopolitan in general.

We saw the Reunification Palace which was South Vietnam’s Presidential Palace until the North attacked and Saigon surrendered….we found it interesting that it is now called the “Reunification” Palace. The literature at the Palace was very one-sided and you just couldn’t help wonder what the South really feel about the North….and how they feel about Americans. We also explored the War Remnants Museum which honestly was pretty Anti-American. Reading about the Vietnam War from one opinion makes you think about what really happened. The media controls so much of how we (and the rest of the world) perceives things you never know what is real. That said, the graphics of the war victims were heartbreaking. And while war is totally complicated and not at all something I want to get into here, it really is totally MESSED UP…..why can’t we all just get along! :)

We were in Saigon for a few days so we actually had time to do errands. I know it sounds funny that we were doing errands but we’re on such a long trip we have to. Surprisingly everything was relatively easy! We researched Europe hotels (from an outdoor café), did laundry, mailed extra clothes home, and Darsh even got a haircut! On one of our first days there we stumbled across a Health Club and Spa. We decided to check it out but it was pretty sketchy – there were a lot of security guys leading us in different directions and it seemed like they were nervous if we went the wrong way. Once we saw the pretty lame gym with 2 machines and a guy in his boxers supposedly getting his hair washed we figured it was some kind of “massage” place. Oh yeah and when we left in the middle of sketchville there was an Aston Martin parked right in front....hands down the fanciest car we've seen on our trip. It figures! Just my luck for trying to find a gym. :) When we weren’t running errands or checking out sketchy massage places we also had time to just walk around the neighborhoods and soak it all in. I’d have to say Saigon was definitely a treat! :)