South of the demilitarised zone.
Saigon. Saigon, Saigon, Saigon, Saigon. What a town!!! I'm loving this place. It's much less densely smashed together than Hanoi and I have to say, as far as an Asian city is concerned, the air is fresh and clean here. I no longer have a chest as heavy as a pile of weighbridges. The streets here are big, wide things and everything is much more spread out.
The American influence is much more obvious here as well. Not necessarilly in a god way either. Always with the "Alo Jo" from everyone, who assume you are a yank, but also in things such as the amount of dioxin (agent orange) and napalm victims you come across begging in the street. We went to the Independence Palace (former res of the South Vietnamese Prez which has been preserved just as it was the day the tanks rolled in) which was a weirdly nostalgic thing for me. Al these classic things such as map rooms, bakelite phones, etc. Awesome. But then we followed this with the War Remnants Museum. This is a much more sobering and angrifyin' experience, especially when you take into account that the goddam Americans (and us!) are doing it all again even as we speak. Whities never learn.
HCMC is all neon and screens at night. Fucking fantastic!! The only thing that Vietnam lacks is gummed rollie papers. This is a bit of an issue, as I'm sick of smoking Marlboro bloody tailor-mades. Ick!! But we love the Ben Thanh Markets (just down the street from our hotel) for its crap you can buy and the nightly food extravaganza. The pho here is of an ongoingly better quality than in the north. More aniseedie.
I'm really gonna miss Nam when it's time to go. I can already tell. I've become very attached to the place and the people. They are all hornbags (I have never been in love with an entire race for its horn value like this) and they are all amazingly chilled out. Hanoi Helen pointed out when in Hoi An that in Vietnam, for some reason, poverty does not translate into anger. Strange.
