Red Flag, Yellow Star

...three australian guys, two germans and an assortment of others coming and going! The street thriving with life and the plastic stools we had placed half way in the moto frenzied road. We were raised our glasses and at 20p for a jug of beer, we raised them many, many times! This place was an evening home for us only leaving when in need of food or going to Allez Boo around the corner for later nights. This is so far my favourite bar of the trip! The old lady and i think her daughter serve an endless flow of jugs to the table and every night they make space (somehwere) for us.

So as you can imagine a few stories were had in Saigon, but first let me introduce you to a few new faces.Ok far right is Jules, we met crossing the border and fending off a number of scams that were tried on us. The other two guys are Mark (far left) and Warick (middle somewhere), Jules's mates that were put on another bus. The others? Well these are the street children, little rascals, and adorable characters that plagued us on our first night in Viet Nam. As you can see they sell everything and are definately not photo shy!

Inside Allez Boo we lost Warwick, we found him on the street learning his numbers with a small crowd. The crowd grew as we joined him and we were promptly offered everything and at every price! As i took a few photos and the others pulled Woz away a little voice ensured a longer stay than we expected! I can only say that her name was pronounced 'ciao' and that she was remarkable. In fact she was the first child to recieve any money from me on my trip! I think to travel so much in Asia, everyone will find one character they are drawn to so much they give in! Ciao told me;

"be careful. lady take pictures. then you have no pictures. be careful. nice pictures lady take all pictures. be careful."

The certainty in her voice was as if predicting that at least one of us will become a victim of the prostitute pick pockets during our stay. And this on your first night! As you will all probably know i love taking photos, Ciao physically showed us how the two mopeds with two prostitutes on each would most definately approach us and our pockets. With this she protected me and the things i value, She was given some loose change and a big thank you by all four of us!

The thing i couldn't understand from the confusion was this; some of the kids are pickpockets themselves so why help us? Now Ciao was younger than most of the others so maybe this factor made her less hardened and more understanding towards us, she also had nothing to sell. But for sure the other kids and the presence of an older very drugged Vietnamese girl indicated that not all book sale money goes to these children! All the same i instructed Ciao that the money was for her ONLY! The best you can do people!

Bad news: without us, one of the German guys was hassled as per usual by these prostitutes, he woke up with no wallet! Lesson taught!

Well Saigon itself is as manic as many of the other Asian cities, except there is much more room to breathe and less tall buildings. Some of the streets are so full of character too its quite a fantastic place. Overall a really good impression then, pleasant and the people mostly friendly outside of a business environment. You see when doing business they seem to add a 'foreigner tax' to everything being sold! It can be quite annoying having to constantly alert the people that the price of the can of coke/ internet/ chips is not as they say! Getting to know the average prices of things is a very good idea here!

I have been eating some great food too. Mostly all cooked in the streets there is some fantastic dishes to be had. The way they cook the pork and grill the chicken is so tasteful and makes excellent late night stop overs on the way home after Bar Hoi. The lady below was just sat there at 4am cooking more meat than there were people on the streets! Thats a point i forgot, the kids earlier are also found out on the streets until the sun rises, you don't get that in the UK!

Of course being in Viet Nam there is common visibility of the past and the war with America. I visited the War Musuem and it similar to the experience at S21 in Cambodia, it was very moving. The pictures and artefacts on display are horrific and amongst the most disturbing visible. I try to understand more by appreciating that this is a Vietnamese museum and that perspective does not therefore explain the reasons for the war beginning or the many crimes committed by themselves. However i can only admit that doubts about American foreign policy are only reiterated on visiting this place and that parellels are everywhere with current conflicts. It's sad stuff, again the new borns and survivors of this tragedy are continuing to suffer today! The use of chemicals and the violence applied on innocent people was unimaginable. Here is a picture made by a young person born with defects due to the chemicals sprayed on the agricultural and life land of these people.

Well we have enjoyed our stay in Saigon but its time to move on. Me and the guys are going to travel together for a while with Seb (german guy) following up the coast. New Bar Hoi's to be found and places to go! At the end of the Vietnam leg i will be going to Laos, i will arrive afew days before to be ready for an enjoyable day on the river in Vieang Vien. Seb was getting ready to do the same dates and funnily we have the same birthday!!! So its a plan to leave Hanoi and head onward together!

We have spent a small while in Muey Ne, with tens of kite surfers and a beautiful beach but due to it being a bit steap price wise and the number of days we have we are now opposite Bar Hoi in Nha Trang! Plan is to stay here a while and all get together again. I will elave you with an old guy and his dog in a typical small shop, Saigon!

written by  50watts on February 22, 2006 from Nha Trang, Vietnam
from the travel blog: Ending 2005 and Starting 2006
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