FINALE IN SAIGON

 2nd - 5th Jan 2025

Back on the ferry to Saigon

Left: My fellow passengers. On leaving the hotel I booked a 'Grab' taxi and thought I had made it clear that we were to go to the ferry terminal. They are prompt to arrive and normally most efficient. I hadn't realised that there are two ferry terminals. One servicing the islands of Con Dau, the other to Ho Chi Minh City. He dumped me at the wrong one! You would have thought he might have asked more specifically. I thought it looked wrong but I had got out and the taxi had gone. It was a 2km walk, with luggage, to the correct one at the other end of the harbour. Good exercise I suppose and thankful that I had, as always, left a lot of time to spare. 

Right: Similar routine to the journey over. They did play some most amusing (Westernised) TV programmes, often those elaborately filmed 'practical jokes', to keep us entertained. 

On arrival at the Saigon end I was met by an old friend, ex-colleague, a German, who owns an apartment in Saigon and spends most of the winter here. We teamed up for the next two days. 

Left: The Vietnamese are keen on their pet dogs. Sure, they do, or used to, breed special dogs (up North) to eat. They don't have them on the menu down south. I didn't see many cats around. Perhaps they eat them instead.

That evening (2nd Jan) I noticed that the bar staff at my 'local' were all decked out in new 'Vietnamese' shirts. I thought nothing of it, they looked quite smart, but there was a reason for it which I only discovered later that night.

Myself and German friend (Michael) ended up in a very smart Whisky bar down near the quayside. It sold hundreds of different whiskies from around the world, and some of them eye-wateringly expensive. I found one called 'Monkey Shoulder', a blended Scotch whisky distilled on Tayside (Scotland) and was relatively inexpensive. I had never heard of it before, but it tasted OK to me.

Left: One of the barmen there was called 'Joe'. He spoke very good English and was charming company. Apparently he had been to Newcastle University some years ago, and even knew a few 'Geordie' phrases and supported Newcastle United football team. He even gave each of us a complimentary glass of whisky!

Following this, at about 9.30pm, we left the bar and discovered that Vietnam had been playing Thailand at football. The game had just finished. Vietnam had won 2 - 1. This was the cause of extraordinary celebrations city wide...hence the original photo of bar staff wearing 'Vietnamese' shirts. They obviously took this game, and subsequent victory, extremely seriously; fanatically so apparently.

I had repaired to the rooftop of the Caravelle to listen to the Cuban girls (again!). The sight and sounds from there on the streets below were extraordinary. On this street below (right), Dom Khoi, as with others around town, there were non-stop streams 'motos' and their riders/passengers making the most deafening noise blowing those 'vuvuzela' horns to celebrate the football victory. It completely distracted me from listening to the music.

Indeed the noise became rather painfully monotonous. This procession and  the monotonal wailing noise had started at about 9.30pm and was still going on at past midnight!

As you can see from the video above. I was quite glad to get back to the relative quiet of my hotel.

The next day Michael and I decided to give the recently opened Metro a try. Michael is interested in property in the city and wanted to visit a new(ish) vast housing estate called Vinhomes Grand Park. It is near the final stop of the L1 (and only) Metro line which is about, I guess, 10 miles east from the city centre.

Left: The squeaky clean Metro ticket hall.

We took the Metro from the start point at the Opera House (Lam Son Square) and it was a twelve stop journey to the end station, Suói Tiên. I had been wrong in my previous description of the Metro stations. There are indeed lifts and elevators for entry and exit. The entry/ticket was free, up to January 20th! This was, presumably, to celebrate the recent opening and to encourage new passengers. The journey took about 40 minutes.

On arrival at Suói Tiên we disembarked into what appeared to be the middle of nowhere; with just a few ramshackle houses surrounding the place. On advice we found a bus stop and the bus took us to a street somewhere. From there we had to get a Grab taxi to take us on to the Grand Park housing estate. It must have been 5 miles from the Metro station. 

The Grand Park estate is vast and consists of hundreds of towering shiny modernistic high-rise apartment blocks, some of at least 30 storeys. Most appeared to be occupied. There were many shops/cafés around the bases of these buildings, all very new looking, but the area seemed remarkably free of pedestrians and customers. We found a restaurant (Pizza 4Ps..an interesting story about that company also) in a huge shopping mall for lunch. We passed an enormous parking area which stored many fresh-off-the-production-line Vinfast electric cars. Vinfast is a big Vietnamese car manufacturer so its factory must have been nearby. 

I saw several 'westerners' at the shopping mall and in the restaurant. They can't have been tourists. I have yet to work out why this enormous, self-contained complex is built where it is and who are all the people inhabiting it? It is not convenient for central Saigon. Maybe the inhabitants work in industries in, or planned to be in, the local area. For that reason I couldn't understand why the Metro station was so far away from the estate. I suspect the Metro stop was planned before the estate was built. Anyway, quite an interesting trip.

Back to the jolly city and I spent the next few days idly, and happily, wandering around the place. Right: Another cheery crowd enjoying a late evening street-side meal.

Left: These girls were happily puffing away on a large 'Hookah' pipe. It is a step up from the e-ciggy/vape that I use!

Right: On some streets you are constantly greeted by girls with the customary Vietnamese salutation "Yu wan massaa"!

Nothing much more of interest to report and no more confrontations with buses. 

My flight home (starting on the evening of the 5th) was a rather protracted affair which involved a flight from Ho Chi Minh with Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur, then with Emirates to Dubai and finally another Emirates flight rom Dubai to London Heathrow arriving at 11.45am (local) on the 6th. They were all on time and, as always it seems, I had a minor problem at the Dubai transit security X-ray check. On this occasion there was no problem with my new recently acquired e-ciggy. Instead, having carried it without comment on previous flights, they picked out a small corkscrew I was carrying. It was duly 'confiscated'. I mean, can you imagine going up to a crew member on board an aircraft and threatening: "Take me to Cuba, I have a small corkscrew here and I'm not afraid to use it !". 

To further pick on the idiocy and nonsense of some of these 'security' checks, we were served a very decent supper on the Emirates flight. Having had my 'dangerous' corkscrew confiscated, they provided us with cutlery including a full sized sharp steel knife! Where is the logic in all this?

So back to dank and cold UK where, having been reading all the dire warnings from the UK Met Office, I was expecting to find the place blanketed with feet of snow and the population all suffering from hypothermia. I didn't see any of that. It was cold....but it is winter for goodness sake!

Heathrow is a chaotic muddle of an airport (compared to the others I passed through) and, as often, the electronic passport check at arrivals refused to recognise my passport. It is interesting to note that at Heathrow all, or nearly all, the people working there are of foreign extraction (Indian, Middle Eastern or African etc.). I saw only one white-skinned employee at an information desk....and speaking to her and asking, she said she was from Poland. I'm not being 'racist' I am merely pointing out a fact and I'm sure those working there do a satisfactory job. Where are all the white British workers?

Anyway, after a bus and train journey I got home safely! Where next?