Ho Chi Minh City aka: Saigon, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

I thought the streets of Hanoi were crazy. Then I went to Saigon. VERY cool, once you get used to it. The pace of life was amazing, the people were great, the shopping was awesome, seriously, not a bad thing to say about Saigon. Actually, even the haggling was made fun by the locals.

everyone is comfortable with each other and life is simple
i stay with my relatives when i go back, with my aunt and uncle
people in saigon don’t really worry about the things we worry here
such as break-ins, or robberies
most people don’t lock their doors and actually leave them wide open all day
occasionally a woman walks by with nail polish and nail tools and stuff, asking us if we want manicures or pedicures

it’s also pretty humid
it doesn’t rain often but when it does, it’s a very hot rain and the winds aren’t cold, they’re hot, as though someone is breathing on you

it turns out that one dollar in our money can be about 1600 there
a hundred dollars equals out to about a million dollars
so a person who is middle-class and makes average income
could be a millionaire over there

there also aren’t many cars there
they do have cars but mostly only tourists or large travelers or businessmen use them
the locals use a type of moped
it’s not really a moped or a motorcycle
but i suppose that would be what it’d look like here
it’s very fun to ride on one of those, i must say
it could even pass as a type of taxi because i was going to go shopping with my aunt and instead of getting a car, a guy came on his moped/motorcycle and took us to the mall and we paid him
it really was like getting a taxi i guess
except not really getting into a car

i’m not really sure what else to add.
this is merely a production of boredom
but i suppose if there are any serious questions, they’re welcome to me

p.s.
you might want to refer to the city as saigon, not ho chi minh city because vietnamese people really don’t like that name
and you can’t really blame them because ho chi minh was the communist leader
it’d be like if europe had a hitler city or something yknow?

I visited a cousin who was living in HCMC over the lunar new year holiday in 2007.

It was a little different as a lot of stuff was closed and it was generally less crowded feeling as a result of the holiday, but still quite a lot of fun.

I absolutely love vietnamese cuisine and if nothing else I want to go back to eat more of it.

Also, you kind of have to rent a scooter, both out of necessity and because it’s really fun as a way to get around.

It’s worth it to do alot of your shopping here. If you know where do get items with a good quality, you can save a lot vs. paying more to get the same here in the U.S.

Ryan McFarland want to go to Ho Chi Minh City because his friend Seth is getting married there.

I arrive on November 28th.