11 May Ho Chi Minh: The Beginning Of An Adventure
Ho Chi Minh
It was a short flight from Kuala Lumpur to Ho Chi Minh City. I arrived early afternoon, and once through immigration I immediately took out some money and got a new SIM card – only 199,000 Vietnamese dong (d) for 2 gigs per day through Mobifone. I walked out to the buses and was immediately hassled by two people rushing to get me onto their bus to head into the city. I asked them how much, and they said 20,000d and when I asked about the other green bus they said ‘same same’ and tried to push me on. I get rather ornery when people try pushing me around, so I walked away to the green bus and asked how much and it was only 5,000d for the ride, another 5,000d for my baggage. Done!
I rode the green bus until we hit the downtown ‘backpacker’ area and hopped off to look for a hostel. The cheapest one with the best reviews happened to be Mobylette Sai Gon Hotel. It is a narrow building built into a corner with steep steps and no elevator, but I liked it. It was quiet, off the main drag, and had a little rooftop bar. I met a few other travelers and explored a bit of the local area, but mostly just relaxed and started looking for a motorbike. I even went to see a movie at the theatre! Ready Player 1 – And yes, I was just as angry as all the other die-hard fans of the book, but for only 154,000 for a ticket and snacks, at least it was cheap.
When David arrives from the U.S. we plan to ride cross country through Vietnam. There were a ton of travelers in Ho Chi Minh selling and looking for used bikes. The typical ride is a Chinese knock-off of a Honda Win 110 or 125cc. I found two in pretty short order. They come in all shapes and colors, but the bikes I picked up were solid black with luggage racks and bungie cords. I didn’t really know what I was looking at in a bike, so I figured as long as it ran and sounded ok as I drove it, it couldn’t be so bad. Well, as you’ll find out later, it is important to do your research – But since I’m writing this now, you know I’ve survived! 😬
Scam Alert
David arrived on the fifth, and I moved us to an Airbnb property so we could share a room. After two years of dating and the recent 5 months apart, it was an emotional evening. We walked through the streets, grabbed some food and beer, and caught up. The next day we were walking down the road when a local on a motorbike stopped and asked about David’s tattoos. He said he could take us on a quick ride around the city, and when I asked suspiciously how much he wanted he said, ‘no, no, pay what you want’. In my heart I knew it was a scam, but David had just arrived and I knew we would see all kinds of things we wouldn’t normally go to…so we hopped on.
The guy and his friend took us to an arts center where we got a free tour to see how pearl inlay, gold leaf, and other beautiful pieces are created in the Vietnamese fashion. It was really cool, and free, though they do push you to buy something in the shop at the end. Then we saw some cool old buildings, statues, a temple, and then took us to eat. We got an entire fried fish, fresh veggies, and rice paper to make our own little spring rolls. It was delicious.
Then came the driver’s rant about how he is so broke and there’s this and that which is so terrible for him, and he asked for money. I offered him 100,000 – all he did was drive us around and force me to take pictures I didn’t care to have. He became furious and said at the tour company he works for he gets way more than that. I was furious, he was furious, and though I was ready to walk out David ended up giving him more money anyways. It ruined my entire day.
When I’m scammed or made to feel pity for the pitcher, I get incredibly upset. It’s that feeling of being manipulated – because I’m a white tourist, I’m rich and can afford to be stolen from. It makes me slightly nauseous again just thinking about it. But anyways, we survived it, I learned my lesson, and we were close enough to the Airbnb to walk back.
In the evening we tried to take one of our motorcycles to an art show across town. It was being held by a friend of a friend and I was looking forward to meeting him and his crew. Bad idea. The streets of Ho Chi Minh are serious, especially at night. We edged into a traffic circle, almost got hit by a car, then ran directly into a wall! We then proceeded to lose our way on the complicated inner city highway system, got frustrated, and turned around. We headed to Pasteur Brewing Co. instead, which is a local craft brewery started by a guy from Boulder, Colorado. We couldn’t miss that, and we were licking our lips over the menu when we realized we were both out of money. I went down to the ATM, and my card was rejected! They had blocked it because I forgot to update the country I was visiting with my bank.
Seriously, how could this day get any worse?
We limped our broken spirits back to the Airbnb, I resolved my card issue (online, thank goodness – Thanks, Schwab!), went and grabbed some local craft beers somewhere else, and outlined our route out of town. Time to hit the road!
Places to check out in HCMC:
Thai Binh Market next to Mobylette Hostel: Try the bun thit nuong or the spring rolls at the food stalls for a snack, or order an avocado-mango smoothie while walking through the local market. Across the street are several good banh mi stalls in the evening after the market closes.
Little Hanoi Egg Coffee: In a tiny alley and up the steep, narrow stairwell of an old home you can sit and enjoy a cup of the egg coffee made famous in the north of Vietnam. It is way more delicious than it sounds, but avoid the rest of the menu – the food quality doesn’t match that of the coffee.
Pho Quynh: A bit pricier than the street stall pho, but it has really delicious and quality broth with a large plate of fresh herbs on the side. It’s also a good spot for people watching on the corner of a busy street.
Beer: Pasteur Street and Heart of Darkness are two quality craft beer brewers based in HCMC. Compared to the local beers, which go for a dollar or less USD, they are expensive. Around 100,000d, or 5 USD, but they really are fantastic and worth treating yourself with. Pasteur’s Vietnamese Coffee Porter is something I’ll never forget, and Heart of Darkness’s Kurtz’s Insane IPA almost brought me to tears of joy – though maybe that was more because it had been so long since I’d had something other than a light lager in Asia…
Board Game Cafes: There are several in Saigon, and it’s a pretty cool way to spend the day if you’re there for a while. Some of them even have ‘happy hours’ where you can play for free.
On The Road: Week One
Leaving Hanoi
David and I grabbed some pho for breakfast, put air in the tires, filled up the gas tanks, and rode out of town like a coupla renegades. Heading out of the city we had to hop on a ferry to cross the river. It was an awesome experience – just 3,000d, we bought a ticket, then pulled up to wait for the next ferry with the other motorbikes. Everyone was packed in like sardines in a can, and when the next boat started unloading the small area roared as people started up their rides in anticipation of the embarkment.
https://fishwithwings.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/img_6887.movI felt like I was in MarioKart or Gran Turismo, but with all Hondas. The group of bikes, carts, and a few cars headed up the ramp onto the ferry and packed in tightly again. Some locals even did some shopping, buying garlic and shallots from a man with a large basket strapped to his bike. We were across in a few short minutes and moving on.
As I began to feel hungry I started to realize how difficult it might be to find food on the road. Not that there was any shortage of it, but I just didn’t know what to look for! I would have to research…Because of this, our first road meal was a banh mi. We finally found a sign at this place with a few children and an ancient woman sitting outside of their home. We chatted together wondering if they were actually open or had any food when the children walked up with an ipad and used google translate to ask if we wanted to eat. The ancient woman wobbled up to the food cart to make our sandwiches while the children giggled and asked us questions via google. I asked to use the toilet and they laughed at my pronunciation, but led me into their home. I took off my shoes and exchanged them for the bathroom sandals everyone keeps, then peed in a hole on the bathroom floor.
Note to self: All street food bathrooms are in their own homes, so don’t be shy walking through a kitchen or a bedroom if they wave you inside.
Honda Win Orientation: Trouble on the Road
Filled with banh mi and the excitement of travel, we moved on, heading for the coast. It quickly became miserable as the wind pounded us from the sea, spraying sand and salt into my eyes. We were moving slowly, as David’s bike did not seem to be handling well. We finally found a Nha Nghi, or rest house/hotel, soon after dark. Next door we grabbed a rather pricey, but delicious dinner of lemongrass and goat meat, as locals unused to tourists stared us down. In the morning we had my tire patched for a mere 20,000d (about 1$), went up the coast a bit farther, then headed inland. Thank goodness – I wasn’t sure I could take the howling winds much longer.
We arrived at the next town, Bao Loc, well after dark. It was terrifying riding at night. Though we were in less populated areas with less traffic, the visibility was terrible. We were riding on winding roads and most of the other drivers had no headlights. One man was using a flashlight because his headlights did not work and got in an accident with a woman close behind us. We ended up finding a nice and inexpensive hotel, though the owner had to call his daughter to translate any time we said something. Across the street we got some local snacks – me, an enormous 1.5L water bottle full of local honey, and David, a bag of cashews that tasted fresh and delicious. We noticed a lot of cashew trees in the area, and their scent had made me crave them.
As we came into a more mountainous region, David had some more trouble with his bike. He was having a hard time getting up to the peaks of the hills, and the engine died multiple times. We stopped and cooled the engines, he fiddled with some things, then after a few false starts and some cursing he realized he was just plain out of gas. Unfortunately, we had not seen any towns and especially no gas stations for many miles. I struck out on my own to see if I could find some fuel to bring back. Just about 15km up the road, I saw an old hand pump fuel dispenser in front of a shack. The family there was very friendly as I tried to mime what had happened and what I needed. They quickly found a water bottle and filled it up for me to bring back, and – what do you know? – the bike started right back up.
Viet Hospitality
The hills just kept getting steeper and more frequent. We had to stop often to let David’s bike cool and he kept falling behind. We made what I thought would be a short detour to a coffee shop recommended by the Vietnam Coracle. Maps.me had the location wrong, so when we got to that spot and learned that it was twice as far again, we decided to keep going. We were already off route, right? I am glad we did, because it was so worth it.
This tiny, inocuous shack was perched between the road and a steep drop off that fell into rolling hills of coffee trees. We had two delicious, mud-thick coffees, shared a rice cracker we dipped in honey and drank in the views and the scent of pine trees and coffee flowers. The woman working spoke no English, so I tried miming conversation. I ended up buying some of her homemade honey rice wine as well before moving on.
Back on the road we were having a hard time finding food again. There were plenty of cafes, but we didn’t see any signs for meals. We finally stopped somewhere off the side of the road that looked like it had food, even if I wasn’t sure what the food was. We went back and forth a bit about ordering food. The woman didn’t have anything that was listed on her sign, but in Vietnamese asked if we would like bun thit nuong or ban xeo. I knew what bun thit nuong was, so I asked for one of each.
As we were eating a man entered the restaurant, saw us, and freaked the fuck out. I’m not sure if he owned the place or just frequented it, but he excitedly shook our hands and spoke animatedly to us in Vietnamese. He sat next to us and kept putting his arm around us, giving us thumbs up, and looking at his friend while pointing at us – as if to say, ‘do you see this?? White people!!‘ We all took some pictures together and he ordered us a dessert to try. On the house. It was banh beo, according to one of the women there, and was some sort of coconut or flan jelly with a sweet sauce on top. He watched us eagerly as we ate it and we tried to reassure him with thumbs up. When we left he shook our hands again several times and saw us off. Talk about hospitality overkill, but I’m glad we made him so happy!
Next up: Dalat
Expenses
Flight/transport: 13,000 ($0.57) + $50.37 (flight)
Visa: 260 Malay Ringit ($66.11)
SIM: 199,000 ($8.74)
Food: 1,457,000 ($64.00)
Lodging: 714,000 ($31.36) + $25.39
Water: 10,000 ($0.44)
Alcohol: 160,000 ($7.03)
Entertainment: 70,000 ($3.07)
Misc: 100,000 (scam) ($4.39)
Motorbike expenses:
Motorbike: 5,240,000 ($230.16)
Air: 5,000 ($0.22)
Tire patch: 20,000 ($0.88)
Fuel: 490,000 ($21.52)
Total: 8,478,000 dong + 260 ringit + $75.76 = $514.26
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