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December in Japan means incessant lights, snow, and best of all, time to travel! Jeff and I decided to continue our world tour and head to southern Vietnam and Cambodia for our winter vacation. Unlike last year’s trip to Thailand, NOTHING was planned. Beyond our flight and place to stay in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC and Saigon), we were going to take it as it comes. We ended up with a full non-stop itinerary and I wouldn’t change a moment of our trip. It was phenomenal! Read the next few blogs to see what adventures unfolded….

Moto, Moto, Everywhere

Casey Lary
2007-03-10 17:22:15

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December in Japan means incessant lights, snow, and best of all, time to travel! Jeff and I decided to continue our world tour and head to southern Vietnam and Cambodia for our winter vacation. Unlike last year's trip to Thailand, NOTHING was planned. Beyond our flight and place to stay in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC and Saigon), we were going to take it as it comes. We ended up with a full non-stop itinerary and I wouldn't change a moment of our trip. It was phenomenal! Read the next few blogs to see what adventures unfolded....

HCMC

Jeff and I flew into HCMC, also referred to as Saigon. Before the Vietnam War when it was known as Saigon. Then after the war when the south lost, it became Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). I assumed HCMC was the correct name, yet upon arriving quickly learned that many people still refer to the city as Saigon. I will probably call it both in this entry! It didn't hit me that we were going/in Vietnam until we stepped through immigration and were looking at hundreds of Vietnamese, obviously not waiting for us, but still- not in Japan anymore! Then the heat, not cold Japan either! We somehow were persuaded by this sketchy taxi driver to use him and were soon on our way to central HCMC.

The first word that comes to my mind when I think of Saigon is MOTOS. I have never seen so many in my entire life. Honestly, I am not sure if HCMC is famous for them or what, but WOW. How we made it through in our taxi without hitting anyone still surprises me. As I gasped out of fear the taxi driver just laughed at me. There were people of all ages, men, women, 1-5 passengers, old motos, new big motos, fast motos, slow motos- I think people own motos before they own cell phones! There were some traffic lights and some street police, but in general it was a free-for-all. There were hundreds meandering through Saigon. It was a symphony of horns throughout the streets. Close calls galore, yet I never saw an accident. ...