Good Morning Vietnam!

Every morning, waking up to the noise of crazy traffic, whisking through traffic jams where traffic rules are hardly observed and where crossing the roads is always challenging, coupled with air pollution, blazing sun, experiencing 6 months of rain everyday during the rainy season, seeing old & run down shop-houses, while witnessing new hotels & apartments creeping up, shopping at only 3 major shopping malls in the prime district as well as awing at the restored french influenced buildings...(quite a mouthful!) all have been part & parcel of life in HCMC. There is no lack of food (although there are only 4 food courts in district 1) and some Singapore eateries can be found here. HCMC is particularly a place where there are lots of foreign investors, new opportunities - some things catch up really fast (especially Internet & mobile phones) while some are still lagging behind (there are still things done and seen here that belong to yesterday - 20 years ago). This is Vietnam today. With great patience, it is rather easy to adapt.

Coming to Vietnam feels like being transported back to Singapore of the mid-seventies before the days of skyscrapers, high rise apartments and shopping malls. This place offers a variety of sights, sounds and smells that are unique to the country. Sights of old women peddling fruits, locals eating simple meals squatting on stools by the low make shift tables, sound of traffic is painfully loud and the unique smell of cooked bamboo shoots which are locals' favourite (another version of smelly bean curd in Taiwan), are all common here. Generally, the locals here are mild mannered, move without pressure and mostly friendly. They seem contented in individual's current state of living and not in a hurry to embrace mordenisation, high salaries, luxury cars, mansions and maids.

Still a less travelled destination to the prying eyes of many travelers until recently, many asked me what can they do in HCMC - if digging the city's war-torn past by visiting museums & crawling through the Cu Chi Tunnel are not one's kind of activities, one can trawl through the markets, shops, restaurants and bars instead. Many would also ask what can they bring back from HCMC - lacquerware, giant roasted cashew nuts, lotus seeds, milk fruit, vietnamese coffee, fish sauce, hand-embroidered sandales, bags & purses, local silk, rice paper snacks and many more. Meals will set you back about USD7 to USD15 in a decent restaurant, a large sum compared with the USD1 lunches on the street but mere pennies compared with restaurant prices in Singapore.

Chaotic traffic outside the Ben Thanh Market

Road side hawker - squatting style

Cyclos waiting for tourists outside the Ben Thanh Market

Colourful scene along the street of Dong Khoi in the prime area of
district 1 on a typical Saturday. Children here are intrigue by play-ground,
toys & play things which we see in Singapore almost 20 years ago

Busy streets of Chinatown in district 5 - different from what
we have in Singapore or even in Australia or USA

Where motorbikes are everyone's major form of transport,
any part of the city can be used as parking space

Foreigners attempting to cross the road. Even at the zebra crossing, traffic never stops

A 'localised' foreigner, riding motorbike like any other local

Lady in Ao Dai (traditional Vietnamese costume) on a motorbike