On arriving in Saigon, we were instantly hit by the humidity (and an entourage of persistent cab drivers trying to catch their prey). We had hooked up with a nize couple of Taiwanese ladies at the airport and the 4 of us found a taxi to take us to the backpacker area 'Pham Ngu Lao'.What a crazy place Saigon is.... motorbike city.... with the constant sound of horns. The only way to cross the road is very very slowly, so that the motocyclists can see you and dodge you (pedestrian crossings and traffic lights are scarce).
When we got to Minihotel Alley, we had a look at a few guesthouses/hostels and went for the Dung Hotel (clean rooms and friendly receptionists for $12). After settling in, the 4 of us grabbed some lunch, and then headed out to Ben Thanh Market (we have never seen so much cr*p under one roof, and of course we picked up a couple of things). After having woken up at 4am to catch our flight here, we were beginning to fade and we all decided to go in search for a traditional vietnamese massage. Well, we definitely found a traditional place which appeared to offer that extra 'something special'... naturally we moved on.
Our initial impressions of Vietnamese people were that they were friendly and very laid back (sometimes our breakfast which consisted of tea and toast would take half an hour to get to us!). We spent the next couple of days walking around the city, chatting to locals and other travellers. Having arrived in monsoon season, we were hit with sudden heavy downpours which would last anywhere between a few minutes and an hour (motorcyclists were ready with their waterproof ponchos). Also, for all you food lovers out there, we absolutely loved the food here and each meal was only a couple of quid! 3 nights was ample time for Saigon, so we decided to travel to Dalat (the next northern town along the common backpacker route, and also a haven for honeymooners).
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