 |
| Scooter Nation! |
 |
| VietNam Telecom |
Saigon.
Foolishly, I thought a Carnival in Rio was crazy; or that maddening push through downtown Hong Kong during peak-hour. But Saigon takes all things to a new and higher level; the bar has just been raised. It's Hanoi's intensity the size of Bangkok!
With a chaos factor of ten, it makes the New York City rush hour look like the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. It is Ho Chi Minh City and it is alive and well.
It's everything in one. It's Louie Vitton and Gucci. It's home to scrummy back-alley food stalls. It's vibrant colors. It's loads of small children playing in the streets at midnight. It's vendors selling anything you can imagine and many things you can't. It's hooting & hollaring, tooting & honking. It's loud and it's naughty, it's hot & it's sweaty, and sometimes it's rainy. It's hookers and cripples and beggars and businessmen and school kids. It's smiley faces and it's desperation. It's university students who want to travel vicariously through us and to try out their English. It's retail and night markets and cafes and nightclubs. It's an endless stream of people in every direction taking time to sit, eat, drink and feel merry. It's colonial architecture and French pastries and coffees and breads not alike. It's beautiful noodle dishes and heaps of cheap wares. It's river boat tours and large parks. It's litter and glitter and ladyboys. It's "Hello. Where are you going? Motorbike? Massage-ee? Boom-Boom? Marijuana? Cocaine? What are you looking for?" It's a playground for Australians and Canadians and Europeans and Africans. It's a city that drinks beer and slurps Pho while sitting on little plastic stools in the street. It's a world-wide destination for people from everywhere; and it's no wonder why. I submit that Saigon gets my vote, stamp and seal of approval.
