16th of August, 2024.
Hitchhiking in Vietnam: Saigon
We arrive in Saigon after 8 at night and I am starving. The young man lives with two other young men, cousins, and I guess they eat out a lot because there’s not much food in the apartment. I finish some rice, and have it with something else, then later he gets some bananas and prepare more rice, so I eat a bit more as I am still hungry.
As he lives with also three cats, he cleans his room for me, and he sleeps in the living room with the cats. Laugh. I take a shower and go to sleep.
Next morning, we leave super early to avoid traffic jam. His work is near the centre, so I catch a lift. I was just not expecting that we would go by motorcycle, although I should’ve imagined. Anyway, is not so bad, and we arrive in less than 30 minutes. We stop just before his office building and he buys us Banh Mi and iced black coffee, or cafe den. It’s my first time for both! The Banh Mi is one of the most traditional street food you can get in Vietnam, and a favourite one among the youth. It is just a sandwich, baguette style, and the fillings can vary between pork, chicken, eggs, and different processed types of meat. It always comes with some pickled vegetables though, and green leaves. Sauces like mayo and ketchup are also always included, so if you want yours without it, you must ask. My sandwich is delicious, even though I figured out later it was pork. The coffee is also great!
I ask to use the wi-fi in a fancy hotel nearby and get directions to the city centre. As I thought we would go by car, I am wearing one of my dresses, and I think I have never looked so stylish while walking with my both backpacks. Laugh. My plan is just to walk around for a while, and then get out of town to find a pagoda. I drop off The Hulk at the tourist info, and with a tourist map on hands, start to walk around.
It sucks! Everything in under restoration or being prepared for some kind of activity. Out of the historical buildings, I only manage to see the Post Office. For the museums and art gallery you must pay, so I skip that.
To be honest, the only reason why I came to Saigon is a song. There’s this Brazilian song, by the singer Emilio Santiago, called Saigon, and I have always heard as a chill. It’s a kind of a hit in Brazil. Well, it was. So I just thought it would be interesting, once here in Vietnam, to finally visit that city of the song. Funny reason, right? Yeah, I know. But if it isn’t for that, then for what?
As I finish the tour quite early, I star asking around the fancy hotels for some left overs from breakfast. It seems that all the restaurant managers of town are in a meeting, so it takes a while until I can actually talk with someone who can make that kind of decision. I finally get something in one hotel, but not after insisting for a little bit. The manager gives me some pastries, two slices of bread and one boiled egg. After eating that, I walk a bit more and decide to try to get something else, this time for lunch. Luckily enough, the next hotel I ask they are already serving lunch, and there is a huge group of Asian tourists eating. There is loads of food, so even though after talking with three different people I manage to get something, it surprises me that they only give me some vegetable noodles.
I want to take a moment and make an observation regarding asking for left-overs in Asia. I think it’s funny that, even though Asian people are super kind, friendly and generous, when it comes to asking left-over in the hotels, it is way more difficult to get something than in Europe, where people would give me loads of food without hesitating. I understand that it might not be part of their culture, but once they understand the request, why do they deny to help so often, or give me so little food?
I chill in a park for a few hours. I read and listen to music, until I finally get my things and leave. And this time I change into my “travelling uniform”.
A nightmare starts then, while trying to find a pagoda to spend the night.
I walk for a while. I get a lift in a motorbike and he drops me off in a pagoda. Being a very fancy pagoda, clearly a business and not an actual pagoda, it doesn’t surprise me that I cannot stay there. But I find an angel there, who helps me for the next hour or so, until I finally find a place for the night. Rubby drives me through four different pagodas, and the answer in all of them is no. We take the highway and face a huge traffic jam. And all this time, with a smile in her face, any time we would get a “no”, Rubby would get directions to another pagoda and say it “Let’s go!”. I loved her optimism and excitement to help me, but I also just wanted for her to drop me off by the highway and go back home, so she could rest after a long day of studies. But she wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t leave me until I had a place to stay.
We finally are accepted in a neighbours association, where they let me put my tent in a kind of stage. They are all nice men, and there’s some women also coming by for documents and stuff. They have uniforms which resemble the police but they are nice. With the help of Rubby, they also get me some food. Apart from rice and many different types of tofu, there is also what would be one of my favourite sweets in Vietnam, but which I would never find out what it is or have it ever again. It consists in a chunk of coconut, the size of a pinkie, and then some kind of dough around it, all deep fried and dipped it into a kind of syrup / caramel after. One of the senior ladies who was around also gives me some fried jack-fruit which are delicious!
Next morning, I am ready around 6 a.m. when a senior man comes over. He offers me coffee and I gladly accept. It is my first cafe sue, the famous coffee with condensed milk of Vietnam. It is super cute, with a drip tiny system on top of a small glass, filled until one third with condensed milk. As we are having it hot, you just mixed after the drips are done and voila! I loved, of course, but it’s thick and sweet, as they don’t add a lot of hot water. Even though it is a very traditional coffee in Vietnam, I believe that the iced version is more common.
After coffee, a group of elderly ladies comes by for their daily morning exercises. They are all so sweet! And they are happy and curious about my presence. We take lots of photos, and when they start their exercises with the music, we leave for breakfast.
The nice man who gave me the coffee take me to a noodles restaurant just 50 metres walking from the association. Their noodles are amazing! Delicious and fresh! The lady who gave me the fried jack-fruit soon join us too, and after we finish, we go back to the association. I grab my stuff and after lots of thank yous and good byes, I go back to the road.
10 Years Around the World 