Wednesday 4th March – Welcome to Saigon

Wednesday 4th March 2015

Alarms were set for 6am but we were awake long before that, and in fact were washed, dressed, packed and checked out for 6.15am. I have to say it was a good night’s sleep in the Tune and I wouldn’t have a problem staying with them again. We took the short walk to the terminal in the dark and went up to level three and the Air Asia check in area.

Check in was very quick and easy – no problem with the now three checked bags, that are getting heavier with each flight. We went through immigration very quickly and security was bit of a joke, but there is probably secondary, more thorough, screening at the gate. We had another quite long walk to the Plaza Premium Wellness lounge that we had used before flying to Melbourne and it was here that we encountered our first problem – it was closed!

Hey ho, it wasn’t even 7am! McDonalds was next door so we had a coffee there – Sue did some internet research and found it opened 0700-2300 and sure enough about five past seven the doors opened. Sue went first, as I was busy typing and hadn’t drunk my coffee and by the time I joined her she had breakfasted on cereal. We both had some noodles with eggs and soon it was time to board.

There was more thorough security check at the gate Gate P9. Though it was memorable for lots of staff stood around with most doing nothing, this is replicated at many gates throughout the airport and shows Asia’s full employment policy. Our plane is an Air Asia A320-300, we got on board at 0840 for a flight time of 1 hour 55 minutes. We had to put out watches back an hour, then push back was at 0901 and wheels up at 0914. We got great views of KL in the cloudless sky as we climbed and banked back over the city.

Later – We landed at Saigon at 1005, which is on time. We wondered how thorough the formalities would be on arrival, but they were no problem, no queues, and as soon as they saw we had visas we were straight in, no questions. Our bags were among first, and they appeared as soon as we arrived at belt – through in record time. 

Outside was our first hint at the culture shock that was to come, there was a real crush outside the arrival gates – loads of people, many with signs were clambering towards the arrivals area. More than I think I have ever seen in one terminal. There aren’t the tourist info places and welcome areas we have become used to but it was easy to navigate to the taxi area, where uniformed staff were waiting to direct you to a taxi once you said where you wanted to go. I had screen printed the hotel website with a map and the address in Vietnamese, so we were quite easy.

Our taxi driver was a nice friendly guy, among the very few words of English he knew after he had asked ‘Where from ?’ were Manchester United! We now know that were supposed to pay a toll of 5000VND (about 15p) as we left the airport, but the smallest note we had was 200,000(about six quid!), so he had to dig in his wallet and pay it himself. Once outside the airport, we were immediately struck by the thousands of mopeds, that seem to come at you from every direction in total chaos. The traffic is just unbelievable – there is no apparent system – cars, buses and mopeds all compete for the same bit of road and just criss cross and merge, all to the tune of contsant blaring of horns. It doesn’t take long to realise that the ‘system’ works. We actually made slow but constant progress along the road.

All was going swimmingly, we we laughing at the exploits and the loads of the scooters and their drivers and we seemed to be heading into town, our eyes were darting this way and that and we were sort of enjoying it – both glad were weren’t driving. Suddenly the car cut out in the middle of some melee and the driver just couldn’t get it going again. To give him his due, once he had navigated to the side of the road and realised it wasn’t going to go again, he was straight on the radio and another taxi pulled up behind us. Our driver clearly explained where we wanted to go, and our notes were still too big for him. I had been told that US dollars are also welcome here, so he gratefully accepted $5 and loaded our cases into the new taxi.

The second taxi got us to the Renaissance Riverside Hotel without mishaps – it wasn’t until we got out that we realised how hot it was – also very humid. Another $5, which included a very generous tip, later we were inside and ready to check in. As we gave our passports to the girl, she offered us some local sweets, which I have to say tasted a little like bonfire toffee, but we very nice. s soon as her computer told her that we were gold – she clicked her fingers and had us whisked up to the exec lounge on the 18th floor to check in. There, a lovely lady got us drinks and checked us in. She gave us maps and came up with ideas about what we should do here excellent service. We asked the question. Do we say Saigon or Hi Chi Minh City? She told us that locals say Saigon, and if we are being friendly, that is the best – Saigon it is then.

Our room is 1520 on the 15th or 20 floors. The rooms are in a square formation with a huge void going down to the lobby in the middle it is amazing looking down – I don’t suffer from vertigo, but if I did I am sure it would not be good for me. The room has a nice bath, a settee, a desk and lots of space. Very impressive, especially as I had read some so-so reviews before we arrived and so was happy with the quality.

After settling in and freshening up a little, we decided to go out for walk, armed with the map our friend in the exec lounge had given us. Before we set off I split some notes at reception, to get some spending money and had to change my camera batteries.

Outside, we experienced our first Vietnamese road crossing. We had been told to just walk out into the traffic, because it won’t stop for you, but will avoid you – especially the mopeds. It is a little disconcerting at first but, again – it works! We went to a park opposite the hotel, where there is a huge statue of a man called Tran Hung Dao, which gave us a photo op.

With our new road crossing confidence getting stronger, we walked up Dong Khoi, past loads of cafes where people were all sat on tiny plastic chairs eating their lunch. Small shops and cafes are everywhere – it is amazing and fascinating. To get out of the heat we went into a brand new shopping centre called Union Square, which is full of the upmarket Cartier, Prada, Louis Vuitton type shops – not really us. On the opposite side of the street to the mall is a massive Communist party building – capitalism lives alongside its nemesis.

Another photo op at the Opera House, which is opposite a big building site for the new metro that is being built with Japanese finance and will be open in a few years. We then walked up to the Notre Dame cathedral and paused to watch the Hao Binh Primary school band, who were performing on the pavement outside their school.

Our goal was the Independence Palace, and we arrived there at 1pm – coincidentally, the fact time it opens to the public. We bought tickets and then had a welcome cold drink from a vending machine inside.

On the outside in the grounds of the palace there were tanks and a planes from the 1975 war, which gave us a photo op or two. Before going inside we had a walk round the outside, which wa surprisingly interesting with a fantastic variety of trees and flowers, all labelled up. We watched some ‘senior’ tennis players on the court, then went inside.

There are a limited number of room open to the public, but the presidential rooms and dining areas were all very interesting. Up on the roof the Presidential Huey helicopter on still on the roof at his back and call. There was also a games room and full size cinema for his entertainment. Plus the two pointed circles a where South Vietnam pilot called Nguyen Thanh Trung who had infiltrated the enemy air force the bombed palace in 1975.

Last call before we left was the bunker underneath the palace, which could house the President, his family and staff – it had a full comms area so that he could control his army from down there. The comms equipment and phones were positively antique, and reminded us both of when we joined the police in the late 70’s – telex equipment and teleprinters.

In a nod to the decadent capitalist west, we had to exit through the gift shop! We then made our way to the huge Ben Thanh Market, which is indoors and has hundreds of fascinating stalls, including fish, meat, fruit and veg as well as the food stalls, the t-shirts stall and ladies / gents clothing stalls. There ware just so many selling the same things once again it is difficult to imagine them all making a good living. There are very few prices, you are expected to haggle. We spent a good hour wandering and lockage in amazement.

Heading back towards the hotel we stopped so that Sue could have a Green tea ice cream, I had a vanilla one, we also stood watching the street food sellers prepare their wares, but we resisted the temptations to buy any of their ‘meat’ products! At a smaller, cleaner and more organised indoor market, called Saigon Market, we saw that latests cinema releases all on sale as DVDs for 10,000 dong each (30p) they also had lots of TV box sets at 20,000VND (60p). There were also some good looking t-shirts for sale at fixed price, usually around 100K VND (£3).

In order to get back to the hotel we had so get round a huge building site, which is the new Saigon Metro. In the UK Health and Safety would have meant big fences all around it – not here! We were able to walk straight through the middle of it , jumping over holes, and crossing bigger ones on very flimsy wooden pallets put there to help the public. Before we got back we passed through an area with lots of DVD and electrical shops – one again the latest cinema releases were readily available.

Once we were back, we were really ready for a drink, and it was cake time in the lounge, so we went up for cold drinks, cake and some tiny bananas. It was nice to sit and watch the river views, it really is a working river with loads of interesting craft of all shapes and sizes going up and down. Once we had finished our drink, we got changed and went up to the roof top pool on the 21st floor. It gave us a chance to finish a very enjoyable day lying in the sun reading and watching road traffic and the river, as well as catching up with world news on the internet.

Later, we got washed and changed, then went down to the lounge for evening cocktails. The drinks and food were excellent and included some nice ramen, huge shrimps, lovely breads and crab muffins. the lounge was very busy and we were joined at out table by a fascinating Swiss couple – Eric and his wife, whose name we both missed. Both are Vietnam veterans (not literally – they have just spent a lot of time here ) and we spent a very nice couple of hours chatting, drinking G&T and Sai Gon Bia, before settling down, after another long but enjoyable day.

It was certainly nice to have a soak in the bath.