I almost lost it today. The traffic here is terrifying. Very few streets have lights, let alone a pedestrian signal. Most people just step out into traffic and trust that the thousands of motorbikes will zoom past them safely. Between the stress of all the horns blaring at me and staring down buses I felt myself just wanting to punch everyone around me.
But then we turned a corner and came across a quieter street with an old colonial building which is now the Museum of Fine Art and everything just got much, much better. The night ended with a Vietnamese meal which could best be described as spiritual (needless to say, we were too busy eating to take photos.) I guess sometimes it just takes awhile to get used to a place…
Walking down an alleyway next to the museum
An alleyway
Birdcages, clothes, and deadly power lines...
Uncle Ho Chi Minh guarding the post office
Former hotel, now home of the People's Committee
Tags: culture shock, General, ho chi minh city, photography, travel, Vietnam
It must be gorgeous there. As an aside, I’m not used to seeing it called HCMC even though that is its official name. Since most Viet folks that I know (including my husband’s family) are war refugees, they still call it Saigon. Even my oh-so-American husband refuses to call it HCMC.
Well, parts of it are gorgeous…other parts are a bit of the usual ugly-Chinese-concrete monstrosity. I’ve heard that Hanoi and other cities are much prettier… but I’m finding it very charming as it is.
Re: HCMC vs. Saigon, I prefer to call it Saigon too… but I’m trying to be diplomatic in my blog lol… not sure which the best way to do that is, but I figured “official” is the way to go