Monday, 11 October 2010

Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I'm well rested again finally, needed couple of days to get over the Saigon experience.


First i'll try to describe the city itself - as much as i have seen - i liked it and would love to go back for a longer holiday, i'm imagining a trip starting from Hanoi than down to Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, Cambodia, Phnom Penh heading to Thailand, Bangkok.. would be a bit dangerous trip but 100% excitement is guaranteed. Maybe one day..
It's totally different than any other places i have seen before, the city is sparkling, pubs, cute litle bars, restaurants, million lights but not skyscrapers, lots of sellers on the street offering everything from fake chanel bags to fruits, sweets.. they are cooking on the street all kind of stuff, flavoured rice wrapped into lotus leaves and as you walk on the street the smell of different kind of foods are mixed. You can't take 2 steps without someone begging you to buy something from them and the roads have no rules there. The plethora of scooters are coming from all directions, i was almost hit by them several times.
People put chairs and tables on the street and spend the whole night their. Some of them sleeping on the table, some of them on the floor. The city had a character, for me very exotic.
I enjoyed having an insight into Vietnamese streetlife in real which i only saw in movies before.

And so many things to see there eg. the Benh Thanh Market, War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace, several pagodas, chatedrals, Mekong Delta and tunnels a bit further from the city, i was curious about the floating market as well..
And luckily i had a nice group of ppl traveling, they also wanted to see more of the place.
Than what spoiled my trip?
I'll start if from the beginning..

We arrived in the evening after the 8 hrs flight - took off at 7am landed at 7pm local time. No matter how tired we were, had a shower and got changed in 20 minutes and set off to the night market. The lively city re-charged my engergy.
In the market we managed to make some good bargains, i like to buy something everywhere which represents the country.
After we got out from the crowd of sellers we surched for a place to have dinner. We went to a small snack bar. I loved the food, it's rich of flavours, of course everything goes with rice. I had crispy chicken in lemon souse with a coconut & rum drink.
We were planning the next day wheter we should join an organised sightseeing tour or just take a taxi by ourselves. I said "i dont care where we going i just want to see something of the city" - well, the police station was not on my list.
It was quite late when we started our way back to the hotel. I was completely lost in the small street, but the hotel was close.

And almost got to the hotel when we were crossing the road a scooter suddenly appeared from the darkness and - i thought it's gonna hit me - ripped off my bag from my neck and shoulder and left with it. My first reaction was "fck my PASSPORT!!" - yeah how smart of me, i had it with me in my handbag + all my money, wallet, camera and my lipstick (my favourite one, was quite expensive as well) were gone.

And than the rest of my trip went on how to solve that impossible situation. First i contacted my supervisor at night. She wasn't impressed by the news. But everybody was very supportive - almost everybody...

I was taken to the police station at night - haha i wouldn't call it "police station", it was a joke. I wish i had my camera to take a photo of it - but it was also stolen. The "police officers" were watching the boxing match on tv with their feet on the table, didn't even look at me.

I was told to go back next morning. At night i was surching for a Hungarian Embassy - they were my last hope. The hotel gave me the Bulgarian Emgassy's number - very helpful guys but i explained it's not the same country.

No Hungarian Embassy there of course. But i found a Consul, after making several unsusseccful attempts to call him, i managed to speak with him. And never in my life felt so good hearing someone speaks Hungarian. Broken Hungarian but we could understand each other. He told me the paper i need can be issued only in Hanoi but the office is closed on weekend, i have to wait until Monday. It was Friday, my flight back was on Saturday.

Next morning as i was waiting at the police station - 1-2 hrs - i saw a guy taken into the station, they emptied all his pockets, made a drog-test on him and locked him up, the whole scene happend in front of me. And i started to feel sick.. probably the circumstances and that i couldn't rest at night at all.

Finally they wrote a report in Vietnamese which i had to sign. I had no other choice, i was happy that someone finally dealt with my issue. God knows what i signed. No one spoke English.

Than how did i got home? I was preapring for a nice long Vietnamese holiday when a man showed up in the hotel with my bag. He said he found it on the street - or he was the one who took it, i will never know it.. but i got back my passport and could leave the country in the evening.

My "pleasant" trip continued on the way back.. sometimes you better accept unfair sitations to avoid further troubles for your own good. In these cases you can't do anything else but smile and agree with things even though you see it's all about someone's selfish behaviour. Keep your opinion for yourself and forget it. Next day is going to be a New Day.

And tomarrow Saigon again..

Thursday, 7 October 2010

In Autumn

After arriving home from Vienna i had a trip to Manila (Philippines). I didn't devote a separate chapter for it, because it didn't make too much impression on me. Considering the duration of the flight and my short stay.. it was rather exhausting than exciting.
Manila? Hm, Philippines said it's nothing to see there - and they were right. It's a crowded, busy city, not well developed, huge dirty buildings.. - i know i haven't seen much of it.
Though the country has an amazing natural beauty - it's tropical fauna and flora. I'm pretty sure the countryside is awesome.. but the capital just didn't captivate me.
And of course i can't chose my fellow-travellers.. take it or leave it. I know.
Next time i'll try Cebu.

After couple of days off i can say i could sleep and rest enough and it's great to feel fresh again - won't last for long - i'll start my 8 hrs trip early morning to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. It's always been my dream to get there. And Laos, Kamouchea, Thailand, Burma.. all are on my list. Unfortunately only Thailand will be available of these.

In my days off besides sleeping, cleaning, unpacking and packing.. i spent a day on the sea. The girls seduced a nice Arabic guy in the club who has couple of yachts in the bay - no big deal, here everybody owns one of them. He took us out for a nice day.
Sunshine, sea, music, boat, drinks.. we had everything.

At sunset we were sitting at the back of the boat hanging our legs into the water, holding our drinks, listening music and watching the last sunrises glittering on the water.. and the sun slowly disappeared into the sea between the skyscrapers of West Bay and the Island of Pearl... it was such a perfect moment.

They say the weather is getting better now.. so far i haven't noticed any change but today i could walk to the dry cleaner for 10 minutes without getting a sunstroke.
Well, it's still 40 celsius, maybe i'm just getting used to it now - or it used to be 50 before.


We were on the sea last week as well. I still have some bruises of our jetski accident. The end of the day i was wondering whether the reason of my terrible headache was a head injury or just the drinks + sun combination. Probably the last one.
I recommend everybody not to drink in the desert on the sun or at least have plenty of water too.
This was the lesson of the day.
Unfortunately i never learn - yesterday i did the same..