July 23 Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

We had a respite from the rain this morning and we took advantage by playing tennis and taking a quick dip in the pool. At 11 we headed to Saigon (HCMC – Ho Chi Minh City). Our driver and guide are anxious to get back to Saigon. Our guide, Hieu, is engaged and is besotted with his girlfriend, Tran. Our driver actually has two wives, one is Saigon and one in the Mekong Delta. When asked whether the wives know about each other he emphatically responded, “Never!” We can be judgemental about things like but there is a story as to how his dual life came about. Although headquartered in Saigon when first married, he was sent to the Mekong delta for two years while in the army. There he met another woman. When she got pregnant, he married her as well. Becoming a driver after the war gave him the perfect excuse to constantly travel from one location to the other. He has children with both wives and supports both families. When I heard this side of the story I was sympathetic… that is, I must say, until Hieu revealed that he also has a girlfriend in Dalat, with whom he stays whenever visiting there.

En route, we passed the local “red-light district”. A stretch of 2km along the highway with tents and hammocks for the girls to display their wares where the truckers can stop, inspect, even have a nap before heading into the rubber-tree forest to seal the deal. Although illegal, the local police seem to tolerate it. When asked why they do it amongst the rubber trees instead of in the trucks as they do in NA, Hieu explained that it is considered unlucky to do it in the trucks. Those that do, according to superstition, will meet many accidents in the lifetime. We couldn’t help joking that we thought that the easy access to latex was the reason they did it in the rubber trees!

Our 4-hour trip went quite well until the traffic jams in Saigon stretched it a further hour. As we approached downtown we encountered traffic that would not budge. 4-lanes at a dead stop with the only sign of movement being the scooters and motorcycles darting in an out. The reason seemed to be construction of 3 massive towers and a new road plus paving of the main road all at the same time! We had a look around and could see that top real estate goes for US$1000 per month. One can only imagine that will inflate and escalate in the future (the average employee salary here is currently US$200 per month).

Upon arrival at the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we are in NYC - Asia style! Huge hotels and buildings, restaurants by the dozens on each block mixed with local shops and Asian-style delis. We popped into a couple of the hotel's clubs to check out the entertainment. All first-class and all American! Things are looking up. Temporarily, we are no longer home-sick ;)