I flew to Saigon from Hoi An. Already on the way to the Hoi An airport I got acquainted with Pieter, a Dutchman taking the same plane. I call it the traveller’s syndrome – when a person tells all their life to a total stranger met accidentally on the road. You do that because you know that we will certainly never see each other again. In the first hour Pieter told me all his life, including numerous wives of different races as well as salacious adventures on every continent. He turned out to be 52, but he looks fifteen years younger – there is definitely something to learn from these Dutch! On arrival in Saigon we settled in the same hotel and went to discover this crazy place together, with the condition that on the next morning we would move in the opposite directions. Saigon by night… A kaleidoscope of subcultures, crazy local food, heat, all-permissiveness… From an eatery hidden in a hole in the wall we moved to a bar full of randy Europeans hunting money girls to a bikers’ bar filled of pot spirits and so on.
This evening included, I had 1.5 days for Saigon. Which is nothing. And in general, nine days for Vietnam is a crime. This country is so rich in history, impressions, cultural diversity, that I felt like I barely scratched the surface during tats time. I am definitely coming back.
Saigon’s official name is Ho Chi Minh City. Which is often shortened to HCMC. Where are you going? To HCMC! It got this name in 1976, when the North definitively defeated the South. Uncle Ho himself died seven years prior, at the height of the war. When he passed away, there is no way he could have been certain of the war’s outcome. So there is a historical irony that Saigon would get his name. But I like the word “Saigon” – not because I am into revisionism, but simply because Saigon invokes some special Indo-Chinese exotic, a particular spicy hot Asian spirit.
Saigon by night:
Continue reading The city that Ho Chi Minh conquered