Good morning Vietnam

Well, it's not really the morning but I'm in Vietnam so I had to get that line in somewhere. It was either that or 'Miss Saigon'...

So, I landed safely in Saigon this afternoon. I was apprehensive about this leg of the trip, partly because I'm on my own for one night in a new city but also because in my mind Vietnam felt like more of a developing country, especially in contrast to the developed countries I've visited so far. Once again I've proved to myself that it's pointless worrying about things until they happen. My first impressions of Saigon are really really positive. It's a buzzy city that feels safe to wander round as a single white female, even at night. The people so far have been friendly. It feels way more developed and westernised that I imagined it would. The only hazard that I've encountered is crossing the road. OMG: there are motorbikes absolutely everywhere. Like hundreds of the things. There's women riding round in their stilettos. There's entire families on one bike. They weave in and out of the traffic with amazing dexterity, honking their horns as they go. How they do it I'll never know. My heart was in my mouth several times on the journey from the airport. And I was in a car. I've never seen anything like it. Apparently the trick to crossing the road is to make a decision to go and act on it. The drivers are used to avoiding pedestrians but if you hesitate you're more likely to get hit as they're trying to anticipate your movements. It's going to be my new adrenaline sport for the next three days. It's like playing chicken. Except you make a choice to play chicken. Over here it's just the only way you can get across the road. I did contemplate staying on one side of the street all the time but soon realised that would mean I was wandering round in a circle the whole time. Could get a bit tedious after a while.

What else can I tell you? It's hot and humid. Maybe even more so than Singapore. The local women are generally very slim and quite glam. It feels like quite an affluent city. There's a fair few tourists here. The food is meant to be very good, with a French influence. You see Vietnamese people wandering round with their baguettes. There's meant to be lots of nice cafes. French-stylee. Oh, and I'm a millionaire in Vietnam. Their currency is a bit like the Italian lire used to be. I withdrew 3 million Vietnamese Dong (VND) from the ATM at the airport. That's about 100 quid. I shared a taxi from the airport with a random Irishman - it cost me 50,000 VND. That's about 1.77GBP (sorry, no pound sign on this keyboard). I went for a beer in Saigon Saigon, the rooftop bar of the Caravelle Hotel. It cost me 4GBP. That was in a swanky hotel. My meal was about the same price. That's mega cheap. I really like it here. Not just because it's cheap. The city has a nice feel to it. I'm pleasantly surprised. And really pleased I came here. I had been thinking it would have been nice to stay in safe old Singapore but this was a good thing to do.

I also surprised myself by not sitting in my hotel room all evening. I was super brave and took myself off to said rooftop bar (good coz there was the view for distraction as it was too dark to read the book I'd taken - tactics, you see). I then went to another bar for some food and had a beer there too. It was the type of place that didn't matter that I was on my own. It wasn't too busy and I could look out at the activity on the street. Then there was a power cut and I got talking to the waitress who spoke very broken English but we managed. It's not nice thinking that I've got to get used to going out on my own now, but I'm pleased that I've tried it and it wasn't the disaster it could have been.

My other angst was that the Irishman I ended up sharing a taxi with from the airport suggested we could go out for a beer tonight. I'm 100% convinced that it was an innocent enough invitation (two Brits at a loose end in Saigon) but I freaked out a bit and managed to avoid making any firm plans. I just kind of said we'd probably see each other around and leapt out the taxi. In my mind I was thinking about that Liam Neesen film, Taken, where Liam's daughter meets someone at the airport in Paris and ends up being kidnapped and drugged. Good old Liam has to fly in from the US and rescue her and it's all very scary. When my sister and I went to Paris last year, I think my Dad was worried we'd get into the same situation. Thankfully we survived Paris but when Irishman suggested meeting that was my first thought. I live in cloud cuckoo land. But better safe than sorry.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Peter, a former colleague, who has moved out here. It will be good to see him again and to get some tips from a local. Then Pam jets in tomorrow afternoon. I think I'll be taking her to one of the rooftop bars then for some nice food somewhere. We plan to go to the War Remnants Museum at some point over the weekend and for a cheap mani/pedi. I passed somewhere today where it was US$5 for a manicure. That's peanuts. There's a few markets to visit and otherwise we'll just be taking it all in and enjoying our city break. Oh, and maybe doing a bit of clothes shopping. Although we've only got a 7kg luggage allowance on the flight back to Singapore. We can always pay the excess I suppose.

Anyway, I think that's my brain-dump over for today. This blog has been my surrogate counsellor while I've been away. I come on and write down all my feelings, hit publish and then can rest easy as it feels like I've communicated with someone. So I owe you a thank you for listening to my ramblings and therefore helping me to sleep easier tonight.