Saigon

We arrived in Vietnam on Friday afternoon. In one word: Motorbikes. There is an odd synchronization that occurs between the cars, motorbikes, buses and pedestrians, though I wont pretend that I understand it. I frequently froze up in the middle of the street when I was darting traffic, where the ratio of motorbikes to cars is about 30:1. 

Once you make it across the street without getting hit, you start to a notice a few things. People napping on their bikes, slurping soup on their bikes, and street vendors taking a break by resting their inventory on a stranger's bike.

Pho, Banh Mi and coffee can be found on every corner. I expected delicious pho, but what I didn't expect was their coffee to be so damn good. Strong coffee and condensed milk. Yum.

I also started this trip not knowing much about the Vietnam War. I know a little more now, at least from the Vietnamese point of view. We visited the Reunification Palace, the location where South Vietnamese surrendered. We also stopped by the War Remembrance museum, which showed a graphic photo history of the impacts of Agent Orange, among many other sad images of the brutality of war.

We also made a side trip outside the city to Cu Chi, where the residents of this jungle-town built a series of underground tunnels. Initially it was to designed as a place to hide weapons during the war against the French, but later is was expanded as a defense against the Americans.

Saigon was my first stop ever in Asia. (And my first ever stop in a communist country.) Now we are en route via bus to our second stop: the beach city of Nha Trang.