I'd read before coming here that the city is crazy, hectic, and has awful traffic. After walking around for a day, I have to say I disagree completely.
My view is colored, of course, because I've lived in Bangkok for the last four months. HCMC certainly has more motorbikes than BKK (probably at least 3 times as many), and it's true that traffic lights are infrequent occurences (and pedestrian crossing lights even less so), but Alyssa, Mariela, and I agree: HCMC is a chill place.
French colonial influence has given it a European feel. The streets are luxuriously wide, the sidewalks are smooth and clean, there aren't street vendors everywhere you turn, and there are lots and lots of parks.
It's not nearly as polluted as BKK, which means breathing is pleasant and the temperature by the street isn't suffocating.
The food here is SO good, so fresh, and so cheap. Dinner tonight (vegetable curry, cashew chicken, rice, and mango smoothies) cost us about $2.50 each.
Another nice thing - nearly all restaurants in Vietnam give you little moist towlettes to clean your hands with before you eat.
More to come!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sunday night's episode of The Amazing Race took place in HCMC. They depicted it as the motorbike capital of the world and said that it was known for recycling just about everything.
ReplyDeletehappy to see you are enjoying travels and, it must be said, that the typhoon twins didn't completely destroy your plans!
ReplyDelete