I decided not to mess around. Upon collecting my bag from the spinner, I quickly made my way to the most obvious taxi desk and showed the lady my paperwork with the address of the hotel I was staying, which had printed alongside a "not so useful" map that had been printed using washed out tones so indistinguishable from each other that it was simply a single shaded block of grey. Luckily the organiser knew where it was.
The distance of about 7km took roughly half an hour as I watched on the map as my Taxi weaved around the side roads trying to avoid getting stuck, but as the price had been paid up front at the Airport I wasn't concerned about the timescales, just interested as to how a local driver tackles route as opposed to Google Maps. The difference, rather predictably was quite stark but thats just the nature of my mind. It likes to know things that have absolutely no bearing on anything else whatsoever.
The hotel in District 1 was located down a small street just away from one of the busy routes in the city. Far enough away as to not be able to hear any of the commotion it was also just a short 5 minute walk to the area I had stayed briefly before, which I knew housed plenty of good places to eat and a little bit of life. One of the benefits of this hotel however was that it was located on the same side as the Basilica, Post Office and Opera House where I was planning on taking a walk to during my time there,
With 2 nights booked I gathered a large bag of washing together and arranged with chap on reception to have it all cleaned and with me before I left early on Thursday then walked out into the night to go and find something to eat. As I left the small street back into normality, I was quickly reminded just how manic this city could be. Bikes and cars jostled for position on a kind of roundabout with staggered exit and entry points as pedestrians local and foreign attempted to cross safely infront the overlooking neon signs. The locals are the ones that are comfortable with it all, the foreigners, no matter how nonchalantly they may first appear, almost always stagger, pause, or give other visible hints that they aren't as happy as they would like you to believe. The trick though is easy, and I found it to be this;
Never make eye contact with driver of the vehicle that is coming towards you.
Doing this you don't panic, stall or alter your path. The owner of the car or bike assume that you are keeping your path and accommodate this in their manoeuvres. Of course it's never wise to just walk out there without checking for gaps, but once the choice is made, commit to it, and most importantly, ensure your insurance is bang up to date.
The walk around the city in the day was pleasant enough with the 30 odd degree heat far from unbearable, but still requiring the odd stop in order to take in fluids. The Church of Notre Dame still looks the same, but as before it was difficult to get any nice pictures of it without including the coaches and vans all parked infront. The Post Office provided similar frustrations with every possible angle for a nice photograph of it's interior obstructed by either a carefully misplaced stand or blatant acts of photo bombing. Still it was nice to have a quick chat with a few students here who asked me some questions based on my travels and my thoughts on Saigon whilst being filmed for the record on their digital SLR. I think I must now be one of the most filmed travellers in SE Asia.
A trip to the VinCom shopping centre just highlighted how quickly brands familiar to westerners are now being introduced into Vietnam. On my previous visit there were only a handful of recognisable brands scattered though out the city. but here, in the newly constructed Viacom Centre, brands such as Marks & Spencers, French Connection, Karen Millen, Accessorize and Warehouse, sat alongside, or even outnumbered the vietnamese shops in the same space. Things are changing quickly in Ho Chi Minh.
The Opera House, just a block further down had it's view to the centre blocked by construction boards and apparent activity, and a little internet search leads me to believe this may be the start of the proposed, and long awaited metro scheme that is planned for the city. It's amazing to see the amount of building work and change that is currently underway here, and you can only speculate just how fast and how far this is all going to go. Just like you can only guess where the hell your spectacles are when you realise they are missing from your pocket.
Luckily they had been handed in back at the Post Office.
On the way back to the hotel I decided to swing by the park that runs through the centre of District 1. It was here that I ended up talking to students on my last visit, and with a little bit of time to spare, I thought it would be a nice gesture to be able to help out again if anyone needed help. I was soon approached and sat down on a bench with one student keen to practice her english, and joined quickly by a few others keen to practise too, probably in the safety of a group. It was interesting to hear them talk and nice that they seem to be very well grounded in the way the world, and their country works with topics broached such as global pollution, American, Chinese and French influences past and present and what they wished for the future of their country, all I could add was that I hoped that as it evolves into the next stage of its inevitable growth, it doesn't forget what it fundamentally is. Ho Chi Minh is such a great place because of it's people, their friendliness, appetite to learn and develop, but also because it embroils the best of Vietnam, its people and it culture. No matter what changes occur in the future it needs to retain it's own identity despite the influx of it's newer influences.
I noticed here, as well as at the Post Office earlier that the students referred to their city as Saigon. You might think that as the name was changed in 1976, and well before any of these students were born that it would be a name more resonant with the older generation, but Saigon is the name the use and Prefer. I asked them why and the best I could get is that Saigon is what it is, with the feeling that they felt that Ho Chi Minh as a name was one had that had been designated rather than wanted. It was something that had puzzled me for a while, with the name Saigon still heavily used on public buildings and branded goods but commonly referred to by people from outside the city as Ho Chi Minh, I was never exactly sure exactly how I should refer to it.
But I guess though it's all fairly irrelevant, Ho Chi Minh or Saigon it doesn't really matter*. As a visitor I was enamoured by the place and it's people and not by the name, the ingredients more than the brand. I've just never been that big on labels.
*Unless of course it's the answer to a quiz a quiz that could ultimately win me a lot of money, or a bottle of Larue
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