20.10. Off to Vietnam

After another night in Phnom Penh, today we went from the capital of Cambodia to Vietnam: Saigon or, as it has been officially named since the war, Ho Chi Minh City. So it was time to say goodbye to Cambodia, as our path will not lead us back to this country again. It was a very beautiful first two weeks and a good start to the life of a backpacker, as we could meet many nice people and there was so much to see.

When we arrived in the evening, we decided to explore Saigon at night. Andra and I were both very impressed by the flair of this city. There are green parks with pavilions on every corner, where we joined a dancing group, there are neighborhoods with endless narrow alleys that lead you to the residents but also big and crowded streets where you can buy everything you can imagine. In addition, there are occasional skyscrapers in the city, which, however, contribute positively to the cityscape due to their modern architecture and beautiful light installations. By the way, like any city worth its salt, Saigon also has a church called 'Notre Dame'.

But one thing that will always keep us on our toes here is the traffic. In a previous post, I already mentioned the traffic in Cambodia. But in Vietnam, it's even worse. While we actually got along pretty well in Cambodia, crossing the streets here is always accompanied by a bit of fear of death, as the main means of transportation here is the scooter. And when a constant stream of these scooters passes by you, you're just glad when a gap opens up. But in the middle of the road, the next column is already coming, led by ten scooters in the first row, and they don't slow down either. Because why should you slow down when you're already going so fast?

We spent the evening at a street food market with a huge selection of various foods and the great smells that covered the entire area. There we met a nice group of Brits and a Thai with whom we later went to a smaller bar and talked for a long time about our different countries.

Tomorrow we will visit a large temple where we want to watch a ceremony and then go to a tunnel system that was used during the Vietnam War.