Power to the People

Officially Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it is still commonly known round here, has a population of seven million people. It feels like a lot more though, and I suspect that figure doesn't include all the tourists, the travellers, the expats, and the thousands of people who pour into the city every day to hustle a living by selling their wares and services.

Taking account of Viet Nam's fairly recent history of colonial rule and civil war, it's remarkable how in the last thirty years this resourceful and hard-working nation has pulled itself up by the boot straps to build a flourishing economy.

Saigon is noisy, chaotic, constantly swarming with people - a curious mix of Communists embracing capitalism to improve their lot; effortlessly using what's good from the west while keeping the traditions of the east.

I'm sure every family has at least one motorcycle and one tv, while every citizen has a mobile phone. As you can see from the photos, it's as if they grabbed the technology with both hands but didn't have time to put in the infrastructure; cables are stretched and coiled on poles along the streets, traffic lights and road signs are few and far between, and of course nobody bothered to write a Highway Code.

It's all but impossible to walk on the pavements in the backpacker area where we based ourselves. Locals cook, eat, relax and socialize on the street; shoe shine boys, hawkers carrying stacks of books, slight young women carrying heavy babies and trays of tissues, cigarettes, lighters etc, approach everyone in the hope of a sale, and visitors like ourselves get in everyone's way.

Saigon is a noisy, exciting, crazy place with an electric energy that will either give you a great buzz or send you running back to your hotel for the cover of the duvet.

I should mention that Saigon also has its beautiful streets with gracious buildings, enticing shops, quality restaurants and open spaces, and a night skyline view from the 25th floor of the Sheraton Hotel rivalling that of many famous western cities.

The only rule of the road seems to be; bob and weave around the other road users, try not to hit anything, use your horn liberally.

Even when you try travelling by boat for a change, it's not long before you hit a traffic jam.

The python coiled in the jar of liquor is supposed to add Viagra-like qualities to the brew.

The creepy reptile wrapped around me and my Vietnamese friend is a live python.

Not to be outdone, Brian holds a honeycomb covered in live bees, busily producing honey for royal jelly and other natural remedies popular in Viet Nam.

This particular day we were visiting the Mekong Delta, and enjoyed the contrast of a day out of the city spent in peaceful countryside with fruit orchards, coconut groves, and rubber plantations. Boats of all kinds plied the massive waterways; huge dredgers, ancient sampans, fishing craft, and best of all the cargo boats laden with bananas, coconuts, flowers and plants bound for the markets of Saigon.

This is how the street outside our hotel looked at 7am every morning. Each one of these drivers presses constantly on the horn of the vehicle.

Our local pavement cafe in down and dirty District 1.

A cheesy photo to round off our day looking round the Cu Chi tunnels, famously used by the Viet Cong in the war against the Americans.

Getting some practice in with an AK47, ready for if I'm driven to become a sniper on the roof of my nursing home.