Chaos in Vietnam - Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City

It was a five hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon but still called this by the locals) and when we landed we had three kids asleep. If you are are a parent of younger kids you know that waking them up is (a) something you would rather not do and (b) you are a little scared because you don't know what kid will wake up - will it be the green-eyed monster or happy kid? It has to be done with customs and immigration ahead of us.

Walking through the sliding glass doors was just the beginning of the onslaught of the senses...it was 9 p.m. but 30 degrees and major humidity. And then there was the traffic. Thousands of motorbikes weaving in and out of the streets, gutters, foot paths. We were pretty tired and just made it before the kid's meltdown began.

Arriving at the Saigon Mini Hotel 1 (www.saigonminihotel.com/smh/) was an oasis in the chaos and there were many smiling faces greeting us. Little did we know that these smiling faces were just the beginning of the warmth that we would feel from every Vietnamese that we would encounter.

But it was a quick lights out...I say quick because we were all up between 4:30 - 5:30 a.m. due to the 3 hour time difference - and the rooster outside our window....

Our first full day was a fantastic introduction to this city which is best described as frenetic, high paced, traffic laden, hot, humid and a multitude of smells that just kept making me laugh all day - it was intoxicating!

When we first wandered out into the steets, we were of course a tourist target and that is when we first met Thien. While at first we were experiencing our first real tourist trap it turned out ot be a blessing in disguise because for the next five hours, we had two personal chaffeurs to navigate us through the crazy streets of Saigon.



As we meandered through the tree lined streets, weaving through motorbikes you quickly realise there are NO traffic lights, NO traffic laws really - but somehow, everyone knows how to avoid each other even through you are driving straight towwards trucks, buses and of course brushing against motorbikes.


Day One brought us to the War Remnants Museum (more on this later), Reunification Palace (former home to Southern Vietnam's US backed President prior to the "American War"), the Chinese Market and a Chinese and Vietnamese Temple (Note to traveller: rubbing Buddha's tunny and then rubbing it into your head brings welath and good luck!). Our tour guides were fantastic, funny and a fantastic introduction to the people of this great city.

Speaking of the people, their reaction to our kids and in particular our blonde girls was amazing. Every women (without fail!!) in the markets, on the sides of the street would approach Madeline and Erica and touch their face, their hair and smile broadly. This was a genuine demonstration of affection. At first, this was a little daunting particularly for Madeline who at one point said "I am not walking into any more markets because people keep touching me..." but of course she is now wondering why the odd person is not paying attention to her....

Day One ended with a visit to the famous Cho Ben Thanh Market in the heart of District 1. Joshua was able to meet his dinner first - a blue giant prawn and then had it on his plate 10 minutes later. We had a great meal (feeding a family of five for $15USD) in the heart of the chaos with a bottle of Tiger Beer (50 cents for a giant bottle!) and a toast (Yo!) to our first full day in South East Asia. Bring on more!!