Saigon aka Motorcycle City

Within this school year's six week summer break, I was granted two weeks of vacation between English camps that I was working. Talking it over with Nick, we decided to take our trip back to southeast Asia like we had done over winter vacation (Thailand). This time however, we wanted to visit Vietnam and Cambodia. And because our time off only overlapped for one week, we would have a short time to do it. Only about 8 days for me.

Our flight arrived into Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City on a Saturday night around 10:00. We were armed with a Lonely Planet book and a decent number of cocktails but not much else. We soon found a cheap hotel for us to stay that night. The nightlife that existed in the surrounding area was nothing to comment on.

Outside of our hotel. Backpacker district.

When a country is as poor as Vietnam can be....you tend to notice more stuff like this.

We were able to dig into our first real authentic bowl of Vietnamese Pho.
Nick of course is on the left and his sister is on the right. She was out visiting Korea from Long Beach and consequently came along with us on our trip. It was definitely a good addition.

Nick. Looking like a creeper (pony-tail and all).

As a last minute decision. Our good friend from here in Korea, Seung Ju, decided to come along with. Seung Ju is quite possibly the most easy going and indifferent person on this planet so we were stoked to have him on board. He's a homie for life.

Ari.

Saigon is filled to the brim with motorcycles. It is by far the primary mode of transportation. Throughout the city, there are these large roundabouts that seem to be the definitive version of organized chaos.




There are definite traces of French culture, food, architecture, etc. left from Vietnam's colony days.






Vietnam War Museum. Rough.
Not ready.
Ready












Wheelin and dealin.


We crashed in this guys hotel room for the night.
Seung Ju dealing with the heat.