Saigon

When we stepped off the plane into Saigon, it was strange because the tension of travelling in areas where you have to be on guard at every moment just seemed to melt away with the wave of heat when we stepped into the fresh Vietnam air!


The city is so clean and it is true that the Vietnamese are super friendly. People asked if we needed help with directions etc and being on guard slightly still, we declined, but we quickly learned that people are just genuinely interested in helping the travellers in their country and making them feel welcome.

Of course we had to start our trip off with a bowl of PHO, for those of you who aren't avid Pho fans, it is a Vietnamese noodle soup, that I have to say Ottawa's PHO place does a great job at. The PHO is great of course!!!

We wandered the streets the first day and let me tell you that crossing a street seems like an impossible task with hundreds of scooters, motorbikes and cars racing through the intersections - not too many street lights and on a rare occassion a cross walk sign. However, after the wise words of wisdom from Cammy, we hesitantly walked directly into the crazy buzz of traffic, looked straight ahead and began a slow and steady walk across and sure enough (to our amazement) - heart racing and palms sweating we ended up travelling across the road as the scooters miraculously avoided our path! It is incredible actually, to watch as people slowly walk across the street and become enveloped in the traffic yet make it safely to the other side. We were told that it seems mad and that you just have to walk slowly, don't stop or speed up and you will become a part of the weaving traffic pattern and we did!!!

In the afternoon and evenings, hundreds of scooters are parked along the sides of the roads and in the park with people just sitting and hanging out on their scooters. We have also seen a high chair stuck in the front of the scooter carrying an infant, toddlers standing on their fathers laps holding the handlebars, or on the bottom of the scooter with mom riding on the back with their brother and sister. It is unbelievable - Brittany Spears with her baby in her lap is nothing over here.

The weather is hot and humid and in the 30's.

We are going to try to do weekly updates so it isn't quite so long between and hope to get Nepal up and running soon!