Saigon

*Disclaimer: I can’t claim to have any real knowledge of Vietnamese politics so if anything is incorrect just ignore it please! I believe the boss man is also high up in the communist party which may or may not make the country currently communist. The Lonely Planet is also about as sure as I am by the looks of it. “Capitalism is the ideology of choice and action. There are rules, and then there is the national pastime of getting around them”, “Vietnam is speeding towards the future with its politics and desires in a delicate balance”

Saigon is quite a lot different to Hanoi. I think you can really tell the difference between the originally communist North (Hanoi) and the originally capitalist South (Ho Chi Minh\Saigon). The South is still that little bit fancier, the streets are that bit wider, the buildings are that bit straighter and the overhead power and telephone lines are still that bit more orderly. Apparently when the ordinary people of the communist North flooded down to the South after the communists won the war they were shocked to find order and prosperity and that the people were actually educated, civilised and healthy, such was the propaganda leveled at the people of the north by their own government. Questions must surely have been asked. I’m definitely no expert but now I really couldn’t identify anything communist about either the North or the South. Just like when we left Cuba and Hong Kong I’ve got more questions than answers!

Look, helmets! The traffic is just not quite as insane as Hanoi.

French influences here and there including our guest house…