Day 30, Ho Chi Minh

Street photo showing traffic controllers at work

Ho Chi Minh has real soul and people continue to call its historic centre Saigon. Here, the roads are crowded with 4 million scooters trying to find their way, even sometimes on the pavement or in any available space. I read in a guide that they are pretty good drivers despite their evident lack of respect of traffic lights. I would say that it is hopefully because they hardly drive in excess of 40 km/h. Just try to cross the road during the rush-hour and you will have a real experience, even if you are a wild Frenchy... Do the opposite of newly retired bullfighters, loiter and don’t stress people out.

Inhabited roofs of an old French house

As you know, Ho Chi Minh was also previously called “little Marseille” (actually I didn’t know that). Not little at all but it is easy to notice some French touches. That is why we started our day in a traditional boulangerie “Un jour a Paris”. We meet the manager, who speaks English and French fluently. When we tell her our plan of cycling from Da Lat to the East Coast, she answered: “mais il ne faut pas, holala il y a des creuvasses!”

Today, the 2nd September is the national day. The Vietnamese celebrate the reunification of their country. Because sometimes we are logical, we visited the Reunification palace. For less than one pound, we gained entry to the palace and had a very instructive one hour tour. We also went to main post office with a French map on the wall and the Notre Dame cathedral, this was not historically logical.

We had lunch at the same restaurant as the night before. I wish I had a secret door to access to this place from everywhere.

In the afternoon we decided to go to a popular local market. Because the prices are not displayed you have to bargain. An interesting point is that the colour of plastic bags the stall seller gives you apparently reflects your negotiation skills. This is very useful for the next sellers. Never mind, prices can easily be reduced by 50 % and everything is basically cheap.

In the evening we just had a stroll in the Pham Ngu Lao area. You can find everything there. The most interesting things were some old propaganda posters.