Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

I landed in Saigon in the evening in the centre of the backpacker area. I figured in a city this big there would be plenty to choose from in the way of accommodation and dorms to boot. I had a look online before leaving Mui Ne that morning and nothing had jumped out at me though. I walked around for a bit anyway and soon found a place advertising a $6 dorm. For Vietnam and Saigon I thought this was a good deal but I soon found the reason for its cheapness. Firstly I had to climb 4 flights of stairs which is no mean feat when you have 20kg hanging off you. The dorm itself was a small room with 4 bunk bedss somehow crammed in along with a wardrobe, a tv and an aircon unit. Oh and it was en-suite as well. The mattresses were wafer thin and there was a sheet to cover that but no cover for you. The beds were so close together it was difficult to move. It was easily the worst room id stayed in and had me pining for the place I stayed in in Hanoi. But it did have aircon and was around the corner from the main area without being too noisy so it wasn't all bad. Plus I was tired when I arrived and I was only there for two nights so I could manage to live with it for that long. My first night in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was also the night of the 2010 Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. As soon as I had checked in I went looking for something to eat and began to suss out somewhere to watch the game later that night since it wouldn't begin until 2am HCMC time. I found one place that was pretty close that was going to show it so after dinner (Indian food in an Irish bar) I went back to the hostel to grab an hour or two's sleep since I would get precious little of it after the game. In the bar later on I was sat next to a Russian guy watching the game. He was there on business and was making the most of his company credit card through food and booze at this ridiculously overpriced bar (no 4000d beer here). Anyway the game was being shown on two tvs but there was dance music being blared instead of the commentary. This was annoying. The guy really wanted to chat to me but he was struggling with English so it wasn't easy to understand him most of the time. Once the game was over, after Inter won quite easily, I was pretty shattered from the late hour and trying my best to converse in broken English with this guy.

The next day I rose early enough so I could explore the city. I got some breakfast and went for a walk to see what there was to see in this huge city. There are a few museums which focus on the history of the American War in Vietnam as well as a Notre Dame Cathedral for some reason. So I spent the day learning about the war from the Vietnamese point of view. I visited the royal palace as well which played a role in the war, mostly as a command base. They did show a short movie about the war though which went through the main parts of it chronologically so I learned more about this part of history here than I had anywhere else. I think this is a poorly documented war in the west mostly because the Americans got their asses handed to them and they don't like to be reminded of things like that. Later that evening I arranged my ticket to Phnom Penh in Cambodia and had a `quiet night in with a movie. It was time to move on from Vietnam and see what Cambodia had to offer. I had some great times in Vietnam and I will remember fondly my trip to Ha Long Bay and my stay in Hoi An especially. Vietnam is a beautiful country and if the people are more aggressive sellers here than in other parts of SE Asia then that is the price to pay to visit here. I met a lot of nice Vietnamese people especially in the smaller towns in the centre of the country but I think they are outnumbered by the annoying hawkers. But I'm off to Cambodia next, a country I don't know too much about bar it is the home of the world renowned Angkor temples.