Lets start with HATE because I would like to end my Saigon blog on a high note.
My top HATE, the thing that frustrated me the most, was the spitting. So the Vietnamese have this awful habit to clear their nasal passages at any time and place. It's doesn't matter whether it's into the street next to wear you're eating, on the path where you're just about to walk, IN THE WORK WASH BASINS!!!!! They just do it and they do it at all times of the day. It's possibly one of the most disgusting things to listen to (oh the noise!) and see. WHY? Obviously a difference in culture (although there are tons of English chavs that should be shipped over there) but I just wish it wasn't SO public. I think I almost threw up at work once when I walked into the toilet and the beautiful, pretty teaching assistants were hacking up their lungs into the sinks.
OK so my next hate, another cleanliness issue, was the chucking of any liquid into the street. This was absolutely fine IF they looked where they were throwing!! I was in Hanoi walking down a street around 11pm and a women decided chucking a glass of something (I still don't know what it was) off her balcony into the road below was a good idea! It hit us OF COURSE because she didn't look! And it's not only liquid substances...I actually saw a woman hold her baby (no nappy) over the curb, to do a runny poo. I was totally horrified. I had been in Vietnam around a year when this happened and I was shocked. And that's saying something!
My third hate was the mugging. I was drive by mugged twice, which means a motorbike drives past you and snatches your bag or tiny little almost invisible purse in my case! It was just extremely annoying because after the second mugging I had to resort to putting EVERYTHING down my bra. It's find if you have large boobs (= large bra). But my boobs are pretty small so items were kept to a minimum. Pain in the ass if I wanted to bring my camera! I had one deformed boob.
Street sellers were a massive annoyance! Every single bar/restaurant you were sitting in you would here 'you buy something?' 'hey lady buy something'. Ahhhhhhhh their voices haunt me in my sleep. You would think after a year of asking us everyday...they might recognise us? Also there were EVIL street kid sellers. Most were lovely but there were a couple that just had attitude coming out of their ears. One girl shouted at me 'Hey you', I looked over at this cute, tiny little girl. She then stuck her middle finger up at me an ran off. I took a massive disliking to her from that moment on. Let's just say NO ONE bought her chewing gum.
Thieves! The ones that pretended they were hookers. I will be starting a new blog talking of my travels around Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam and there is a wonderful story of how I battled a hooker/thief. Basically these girls would walk up to the men and grab their packages asking if they wanted a girl that night. The boys would be so preoccupied with getting the girls hands off their willies that they would miss the girls stealing their wallets! By the time they did realise the bitches were speeding away on a motorbike!
Finally, my last and least hated hate, although most would have it in their top two, were the rats and cockroaches. Saigon was riddled with the buggers...you'd be sitting in a bar when you'd feel a tickle on your leg. ALWAYS CHECK YOUR LEG! Don't assume it's fly, a hair or something else non-threatening, because it won't be. It will be a cockroach. Little shits love climbing bare legs. We also played 'thrown the lighter at the rat'. I never saw one explode though...others had.
Now onto LOVE.
I may bitch and moan about Saigon but there really is no where in the world like this city. It has very original qualities that hook you!
I loved the traffic! Most people visiting Vietnam hate the traffic, but I found it so amazing! I hardly ever saw accidents and driving around the city was the funnest thing to do! There are no rules but there are unwritten ones that all drivers seem to just know. Also no road rage. If you clip somebody else's motorbike no fights broke out because of it. Usually you would just continue driving. IT'S GREAT!
My second favourite thing (some might be puzzled why this wasn't my top love) was the cheap alcohol. The cheap alcohol coupled with the 24 hour bars. I mean I think the most I ever spent in a night in Saigon was 500,000 Dong. That's about £15 - and I was derrrunnnk! 15 quid would get me 3 glasses of wine in Dunstable...not nearly enough to be derrunnnkkk! Although I forgot to mention in my HATES that Vietnam is the worst place in the world for hangovers. Bad cheap alcohol mixed with heat and garbage smell = sick every 5 minutes!
The Vietnamese clubs were awesome!!!! We'd walk in get loved by everyone because we were white. We'd then be invited over to drink all 10 bottles of whisky they'd bought that night before throwing some shapes (thanks rich) on the flashing dance floor to Vietnamese trance. I believe this to be the epiphany GOOD TIMES. Didn't spend a penny. Cheap cheap cheap.
Whilst sitting on the side of the street drinking dirty 'Hanoi' vodka from things called 'buckets' (but they weren't buckets, they were plastic bon bon jars) we would often find ourselves in conversation with the street kids. These conversations were brilliant! They would usually lead onto to playing Connect 4 for hours and hours in which I belive Sophie is the ultimate champion! How can someone be so good at Connect 4 whilst so drunk???
We'd also make bets with the kids - so for instance if the kid won the game we'd pay double the price for chewing gum, if they lost (which they never did!!) they'd give us chewing gum for free. NOTE TO SELF: If a Vietnamese street kid asks you to play rock/paper/scissors DO NOT INDULGE. They are Jedi's and they always win.
My fourth favourite thing was the weather. I LOVE THE HEAT. Even if there was no sun, which there often was because Saigon's full of smog, it would still be hot! Not having to worry about a coat or jumper when going out at night was awesome. Walking home 5 in the morning and the temperature being 25 degrees already was again, awesome! As I sit here writing this blog in the -55 degree winter (or thats what it feels like) i'm becoming very jealous of the people still in Vietnam.
Finally to end this emotion filled blog, my favourite thing of all was meeting all the people I did. I made so many friends in my year of living in Saigon that were all so amazing in their own quirky ways. I feel very honoured to be your friend and guys - even though this is the end of my blog this is not the end for us!
Till we meet again in that crazy playground we call - Saigon.
I had a ball!
Love Alison xxxx
My second favourite thing (some might be puzzled why this wasn't my top love) was the cheap alcohol. The cheap alcohol coupled with the 24 hour bars. I mean I think the most I ever spent in a night in Saigon was 500,000 Dong. That's about £15 - and I was derrrunnnk! 15 quid would get me 3 glasses of wine in Dunstable...not nearly enough to be derrunnnkkk! Although I forgot to mention in my HATES that Vietnam is the worst place in the world for hangovers. Bad cheap alcohol mixed with heat and garbage smell = sick every 5 minutes!
The Vietnamese clubs were awesome!!!! We'd walk in get loved by everyone because we were white. We'd then be invited over to drink all 10 bottles of whisky they'd bought that night before throwing some shapes (thanks rich) on the flashing dance floor to Vietnamese trance. I believe this to be the epiphany GOOD TIMES. Didn't spend a penny. Cheap cheap cheap.
Whilst sitting on the side of the street drinking dirty 'Hanoi' vodka from things called 'buckets' (but they weren't buckets, they were plastic bon bon jars) we would often find ourselves in conversation with the street kids. These conversations were brilliant! They would usually lead onto to playing Connect 4 for hours and hours in which I belive Sophie is the ultimate champion! How can someone be so good at Connect 4 whilst so drunk???
We'd also make bets with the kids - so for instance if the kid won the game we'd pay double the price for chewing gum, if they lost (which they never did!!) they'd give us chewing gum for free. NOTE TO SELF: If a Vietnamese street kid asks you to play rock/paper/scissors DO NOT INDULGE. They are Jedi's and they always win.
My fourth favourite thing was the weather. I LOVE THE HEAT. Even if there was no sun, which there often was because Saigon's full of smog, it would still be hot! Not having to worry about a coat or jumper when going out at night was awesome. Walking home 5 in the morning and the temperature being 25 degrees already was again, awesome! As I sit here writing this blog in the -55 degree winter (or thats what it feels like) i'm becoming very jealous of the people still in Vietnam.
Finally to end this emotion filled blog, my favourite thing of all was meeting all the people I did. I made so many friends in my year of living in Saigon that were all so amazing in their own quirky ways. I feel very honoured to be your friend and guys - even though this is the end of my blog this is not the end for us!
Till we meet again in that crazy playground we call - Saigon.
I had a ball!
Love Alison xxxx
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