Vietnam

The holiday is almost over and the blogger gets lazier and lazier. My mood upon my departure from Sydney was really melancholic for a hundred different reasons and it still stays quite sad, so I have tried to save you from the burden of listening to my whining about the unfairness of the world. However, now I am finally in Ho Chi Minh, in Vietnam. I dreamed about coming here for a year, occasionally fearing I would not like the country. Then what? I waited for a year, for nothing. But no worries, this time my instinct worked right. I absolutely love Vietnam. It's warm, the food is delicious and you can get anything you don't need at a very cheap price. My kind of paradise!

Post Office Building 

Notre Dame

As a first class shoppaholic I considered it my duty to visit Ben Thanh market ASAP. To be absolutely honest, I wasn't that impressed. The reason for that being my inability to bargain. Dear goodness, it sounds like I don't have money to pay for my purchase! I ended up buying a herbal ointment at Ben Thanh, because I really wanted that (it heals every kind of illness, I swear), and managed to get 30% off the price, only by being a Finn. I took a second glance at the ointments and the seller stated the price. I started figuring out in my head how much that would be in AUD and immediately the seller dropped the price a bit. I started wondering if I really really need to buy the stuff and the seller asked me to make an offer. I offered a third less than she asked for the ointment. She didn't want to sell, so I said I will think about it can come back later. She accepted my offer and I became the proud owner of six, round, little red ointment containers. Sometimes it's good to be a bit slow.

Inside Ben Thanh 

When I go shopping I usually want to turn upside down and inspect every item at least twice, and mentally compare them to any other similar product I have seen lately before deciding to buy anything. That's the problem with Ben Thanh, there's not a moment's silence to consider the purchase, the sellers are too eager to sell. It's like they see someone approaching and immediately go to the business mode. "Now there's a customer coming, now let's finish lunch, stop any other activity and do some serious business." I don't need anyone standing next to me, listing the prices and offering other products I have no wish to buy. I will ask if I need to know something.

Just to let other shoppers know, some clothing stores here require you to remove your shoes. Look at the floor and other people's feet. If there's a clean and neat carpet on the floor or the floor seems to be made of delicate material and in addition there's a pile of shoes in one corner, that's your cue to removing your shoes, too. Another interesting thing you will see in the stores here is a small temple standing on the floor. You'll see happy, benevolent Buddhas resting in the temples, receiving offers like soft drinks, water, fruits and candy.

I tried snails! 

An abandoned small temple

Customer service here is first class, by the way. The hostel I am staying at had really good reviews, the place is spotlessly clean, breakfast is served to the table, dishes are done for me, sheets are snow white and all this is around AUD 10 per night. Not to mention that I haven't had such a fast internet connection for over 6 months.

Cross the street, HCMC style

The traffic is chaotic, one million motor bikes and half a million cars at the same time in the junction, plus 200,000 pedestrians trying to cross the street. This far I have managed quite well despite being used to left sided traffic. In breathless horror I watch the motor bikes driving by, sometimes two, sometimes three and sometimes an entire family riding them. Adults wear a helmet, kids usually don't. I had a chance to dive into the traffic on my friend's motor bike last weekend. After the initial shock of it, I really enjoyed the ride.

The Independence Palace

I went to a Mekong Delta tour today, more about that later!