Ho Chi Minh City (Siagon), end of the line Vietnam.

Yet another 5 hr bus got us to Ho Chi Minh City (otherwise known as Saigon). Saigon is actually just a name used to refer to a single district within the entire city of Ho Chi Minh which is very populous, and many people simply refer to the whole city as Saigon. The entire city is actually divided into 16 districts and we only experienced just a portion of district # 1, or “Saigon”. It’s just enormous and too much to cover in just a few short days. It would take months.


Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam’s most populous city, I believe exceeding 10,000,000 although not exactly sure.

We spent 3 days here exploring as we arranged our visas to enter Cambodia, only a 3 hour bus ride to the east to reach the Cambodian border from Saigon.

We didn’t think it possible, but Saigon was by far the busiest city we’ve seen. The motorbikes and constant traffic here is just insane and really something to experience. It never stops, day and night. Would remind you of a little Tokyo I’ve heard. Saigon is fairly “western” in many aspects. And Corporate America can be seen easily as you walk the streets, easily finding Pizza Huts, KFC’s, Subway, and all the designer clothing shops you would expect back in the states, along with some serious high-rise buildings. Saigon was a tad more expensive than other cities we’ve visited, but I guess that’s to be expected in the Big City. Lord knows New York and London aren’t cheap either. But for perspective we only spent a whopping $30 per night for a pretty solid place to stay, right in the heart of everything backpacker.

Todd on streets of Siagon

The night market not too far from our hotel made for a fun evening as we walked the shops, browsing and negotiating with the locals for items we didn’t need. Anything counterfeit you could possibly want is here and more. It’s fun and sometimes overwhelming. Everyone wants you to stop and look, and if you look, be prepared to haggle. But that’s half the fun and makes for an experience.

One of the most memorable parts, was spending ½ of one day going to the War Remnants Museum. It was a fun bike-tuk-tuk ride just to get there through the crazy traffic. We spent 3-4 hours going through each phase of the museum that documented the history of the war, global protests involved, weaponry used, tactics, and the devastation inflicted upon the peoples of Vietnam. I was really proud to see that of the 8 or so sections, one entire section “Still Image Photographs and Journalist Perspective” was donated to the people of Vietnam by The Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, USA. Props to my home state. It was a sobering afternoon to say the least however. The Museum added considerable information and displayed the unfortunate atrocities that occurred in overwhelming detail. I was happy we took the time to take all that in. It changes you to at least consider the “other side” and learn. After all “Ho Chi Minh’s North Vietnam” did win the war. The museum used to be called the “American War Crimes Museum”, but the name has been changed so as not to offend American Tourists.

I was really appalled and ashamed of the devastation caused. (The picture album post coming next is rough)They’ll be suffering here for 3-4-5 generations still, due to the after effects of spraying DDT all over their country and killing everything. I’m not sure there’s anything nastier than DDT it appears? And we have Monsanto Inc., to thank for the development of that nasty shit. You’ve probably heard the name Monsanto if you’ve watched the documentary “Food Inc.” before. Yeh, same company, doing the same nasty stuff they have been for decades we’re learning.

Famous Pic- (Jane Rose Kimir protesting in a march for Peace at the Pentagon, placing a flower into a rifle)

We just need to get our damn noses out of policing the world and develop a more “diplomatic foreign policy”, using DIPLOMACY, yes that’s talking.   We were supporting Ho Chi Minh and his forces back in WWII to help us against the Japanese, then here we turn around and he's our next enemy.  Sounds eerily familiar.

Anyway, Saigon was cool, lots of travelers on the scene, lots of big pubs, fancy lights, restaurants, activity, high-rises, traffic, and business occurring.

We’re looking forward to Cambodia and having our passports stamped yet again though. That's like the most fun at the borders, once you get through and remember you have this great passport with all these intersesting stamp souveniers basically. 

Good-bye Vietnam, we will miss you. It’s been a great 45 days. We grew. We were changed. We enjoyed your natural wonders, people, culture, friendliness, beaches, mountains, bays, struggles, hopes and opportunities. Vietnam was very high on the list of places I had always hoped to visit, just to gain some perspective from what you always see in movies and on tv. The people couldn’t be nicer and more hard-working and family oriented, so ambitious to make their lives just a bit better, or hoping to get the chance to go to school or start a small business of their own. The only thing that’s like the movies is the scenary (quite beuatiful without the bombs going off).