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Touch down, Saigon. Or Ho Chi Minh City. Can I call it Saigon? Arriving at night gives the most skewed sense of a city. Everything is cast in shadows, punctured only by the veins of street lights and scattered lights on in homes. The city sprawls as far as the eye can see, a spider web of orange-glow streets reaching to the horizon. It seems bigger than Bangkok.
Breeze through immigration and customs. Cannot recommend getting the full visa online prior to arrival enough. The line was the visa on arrival window was immense. A small issue with the hotel transfer is resolved with broken English and charades.
Our drivers apologises for the bad traffic, but it’s not so bad. It’s slow moving, but moving nonetheless. I half listen to his potted history of the city, and spend most of the trip watching the number of scooters and street vendors slide by. Cars are expensive here and the scooter is king. All effortlessly piloted by grandpas, aunties, school children and young office workers in suits. A constant stream of headlights, a cacophony of beeps and horns. A living city, which never seems to sleep.
I’m jet lagged, and just want to sink into the bed. But Husbando is keen to explore, even just a little. About a block away, through the dark night and across the road from the children’s hospital, we find Heart of Darkness. We perch at the bar, and sip beers as we watch the night unfold. There’s more locals in here drinking than I would have thought – stupidly, I had assumed craft beer was only popular with the expats.
The drinking continued long into the night, long after we left for bed and some much needed sleep.
Notes:
- Fork out for the full visa before you board your flight. It made immigration a much easier process, and we were roadside in relatively good time!
- Hotel transfers make things much easier – usually. We had a little bit of trouble communicating with the subcontractor for our transfer, but a little bit of patience went a long way.
- It’s safe to walk at night, just keep your wits about you. Like any big city!
Like reading my diary? I’ve got more Vietnam posts coming, but you can go back to read my Cambodia diaries here.
