Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam. It's located in the south of the country and it was my first stop after leaving Cambodia. I wasn't sure what to expect besides being a good place to buy a scooter. I wasn't very fond of HCMC itself, but I quickly fell in love country after I left the big city.
The bus ride from Kampot was long, but not too uncomfortable. I enjoyed watching the countryside, villages, and cities pass by the window. I couldn't help but wonder if my bus driver had some kind of bet to see if he could spend 90% of the trip in the wrong lane. Every chance he got, he moved the bus into the lane for opposing traffic. The trip took all day with the border crossing and we arrived in HCMC at night.
I didn't have anything booked and I was exhausted when I arrived. I also didn't have any phone service so I started wandering around looking for wifi. A lady approached me and asked if I was looking for a room. I said yes and she took me to a damp, but decent enough room above an Indian restaurant. I dropped off my stuff and went out for some food and beer.
I was in the middle of the main tourist area and I found a table and watched the street. While sitting at the table, a kid of about 10 years old did a fire breathing show that looked pretty dangerous. Lots of people came by to sell things and I wasn't really enjoying the vibe of this part of the city. It wasn't too bad, but there was an overabundance of drunk tourists (myself included). I was just kind of tired of backpacker hotspots. When you backpack for a while, you start to realize that you've had the exact same conversation dozens of times. It's always the same questions and the same answers.
After wandering the streets for a few hours, I turned in for the night.
The next day I ran some errands and took care of things like getting a sim card for my phone and researching buying scooters. Besides that, I just relaxed and enjoyed having access to some good food.
One of the friends that I made in Pai was in HCMC so I met up with him and we went out for some drinks.
After doing some reading online, I decided to get my bike from Tigit. Their site no longer mentions selling bikes, so I don't know if they still sell them. They're worth calling though, their service and prices were excellent.
I went to their garage and settled on a bike that was decent. They also had a helmet that I bought. It was lucky for me because I have a big head and the local helmets don't fit me.
The lady who runs Tigit gave me a map and explained a good route to take. She also explained a lot of different things in Vietnam. Things like pretending like I don't speak English if the police stop me, and to GTFO if I get in an accident with a local because the crowd will turn against me. She also explained that if I had to use a mechanic I should call her and she would tell them that bike was a rental and that she had to pay for repairs. That way I would get more of a local price than a tourist price.
I got on the bike and rode back to my room. I almost shit my pants I was so scared of driving in the city. Everything was pure madness and I was trying to figure out where I was going by the map on my phone while also trying not to get killed by traffic. The trick that I learned was to just follow other people. Forget about traffic lights and signs, just stop when other people stop and go when everyone else goes.
The next day I loaded everything up on my bike and headed towards the coast. I'll write about that day's journey tomorrow.
I returned to HCMC a few months later on my trusty scooter. The tires were flat and the engine barely functioned. On more than one occasion I had planned on abandoning the bike because I thought repairs would cost too much. I was going to leave the bike where I had parked it but I remembered that the lady from Tigit had said that she wanted the helmet back. I didn't want to throw it away because it was a nice helmet. I called them up and said that I had the helmet. She told me to bring the bike and helmet to their garage.
Tigit had (still has?) a policy where they would buy their bikes back minus $90, no questions asked. The tires were flat and it struggled to start, but I got some air and drove it to the garage. I got almost all of my money back! I thought the bike was trash, but it ended up being worth over $200.
I also got some extra pages added to my passport when I returned to HCMC, so now my passport is extra thick which is cool.
I took this picture on my second visit to the city. I will also say that I liked HCMC a lot more the second time I visited. The first time I was there, everything about Vietnam was new and strange to me. The second time, I felt almost like a local after spending about 3-4 months in the country. The drunk tourists were still there, but I had the confidence to wander more and see more of the city outside of the tourist district.
There are going to be other places that I returned to. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to combine them like I did with this post or just do multiple posts for the same place. I guess it depends on how many photos I have. I'll figure it out when I get there. Anyways, I hope you'll join me tomorrow as I start a road trip that will take me to the border with China, as well as back to Vientiane Laos.