NY Times on Ho Chi Minh City

I just found out that the New York Times has a really great section on Ho Chi Minh City. It's a mix of interesting articles and practical travel information.




I've been living here for six weeks and I often ask the locals about this building or that piece of history. I'm often given conflicting information. For instance, I was told that the Ho Chi Minh City Museum was a retirement home! There also seemed to be some confusion about what happened to the former president of South Vietnam. I was told that he had escaped to England. According to the Times, Ngo Dinh Diem was executed in 1962. Maybe they were thinking of a different former president.

Organic Grocery Store in Sài Gòn

We found a great little organic grocery called Veggy's. It's at 15 Thai Van Lung in District 1. They don't take credit cards so bring your cash. My favorite part is the walk in refrigerator in the back. The clerks wear winter coats when working there. It's a great place to cool down after riding your motor bike to the store. They have bike parking right in front.

Veggy's, 15 Thai Van Lung, District 1

It turns out the NY Times has a bit to say about Veggy's as well.

Leave on a Jet Plane

0400 Wake up, take shower, shave. Finish packing.
0430 Get taxi to SGN
0445 Arrive SGN
0500 Made it through security and to first class lounge.


When I arrived this morning the new international terminal at SGN looked all shiny and clean. I stood in the first class line for United, which is pretty much the first counter inside the terminal. There were about 8 or so people in that line.

A United agent came up and asked me if I was in First Class. I said I was. They do this all the time in the states. They want to keep the riffraff out of the wrong lines. It turns out here they do it because the riffraff get in the line. He told me he would start another line for me. And took me to the next counter, which was empty. As he did this, a guy who was already in the line complained to him that he was also in first class. I'm guessing he wasn't asked since
he was Asian. It's typical in Vietnam to get special treatment if you're white. I'm not sure how long that will last. Probably not long. As the country gets more affluent and there are more Vietnamese who are also affluent they won't stand for the discrimination. It's a pretty good bet that you're well off if you're white and in Vietnam, at least relatively speaking.



The lounge was very nice, as you can see from the pictures. It's right next to the gate so you can hang out there until the last minute.



I splurged and upgraded using my frequent flyer miles. The first class cabin is nice. Each person gets a pod with storage cabinets and a chair that will go completely flat so you can really sleep.





The first leg of the trip is SGN to Hong Kong. It's morning so you get a nice breakfast. I chose the fruit plate over the Chinese congee. That's papaya and dragon fruit. The fruit was excellent.


The flight to Hong Kong was short and sweet. Next stop, the United lounge at the HK airport.



Maybe I was a little whacked out from lack of sleep, but I made this video of the restroom...

Schoolbus for One

This is how we get to school in Vietnam!

My Vietnamese language teacher calls my helmet a rice cooker (nồi nấu cơm). Most folks don't wear helmets in Vietnam. The thinking is that they cause accidents because they reduce your field of vision and impair your hearing. Given that most signaling is done with a horn and the top speed is 20 mph, there may be some truth to that.

BTW, the brand of bike is a SYM. I've never heard of them before but they seem to be pretty popular in Vietnam.