Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
First stop in Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City. I wouldn’t normally say this, but Ho Chi Minh City was not the safest place to be. Was Ho Chi Minh City worth going to see? Yes, it was fun for a day or two, but the visit quickly went downhill.
The first day in Vietnam was great. It was the night before Chinese New Year. Everyone was out roaming the streets in their nice clothes getting family pictures. There was a particularly crowded street known as “Flower Street”. This road was covered with lights, flowers, cool displays, book traders (this is popular on New Years in Asia), pop-up shops, and news channels were recording everywhere. Crazy is the best word for Flower Street. However, it was really stunning.
Later in the night, there was a huge firework show in the middle of the city. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people were gathered across a single bridge to watch this display. Across the city, the locals were trying their best to find a good spot to view them. Most people simply parked their motorcycles (almost every local drove one in Vietnam) on the side of the street and sat on them to see the fireworks. The show continued for almost fifteen minutes, but as soon as it ended, the streets turned into mass chaos.Motorcycles would ride up two inches away from you, so I continually had to watch and make sure a muffler didn’t burn my leg. it was almost impossible to move.
Continuing on to the next day, everywhere was closed. All the malls, local sights, markets, and even restaurants were shut down. This wouldn’t stop the McGuires from our great adventure. Instead of eating at local places, we decided to try the Pizza Hut that was two blocks from our hotel. We had tried it the day before, so we knew it would be okay for lunch. This is where the story turns.
As I said, Pizza Hut was merely TWO BLOCKS from the hotel. Up to this point, Vietnam has seemed reasonably safe. I was casually walking (with my parents right beside me) down the street. A motorcycle had pulled up onto the sidewalk. Motorcycles always drove on the sidewalk, so it wasn’t uncommon. This particular one, however, got extremely close to me. Once it got within inches of my leg, I jumped. I assumed that the driver had made a mistake, but absolutely not. I jumped and then the front guy grabbed my right wrist…HARD. I thought ‘Well, alright, he just wants my phone’, so I threw my phone across the sidewalk. This dude is still hanging onto my wrist when the back guy grabbed my left wrist. At this point, these men are dragging me down the sidewalk! I had but only a few seconds to think of how to escape because they were trying to get me onto the bike. My best and only hope was to twist my arms backwards, so I did. I dropped my weight and twisted my wrists as hard as I could. Thanks goodness I have double-jointed wrists or I would have been taken. I came out with two big cuts down my left arm from the back guy and a bruise on my right wrist from the driver. Otherwise, I was alright.
Needless to say, my parents and I were pretty shaken up. We hung out in McDonalds for a good hour to make sure the guys weren’t following us and then we continued about our day with extreme caution. We visited the Reunification Palace, ate at a local restaurant that was actually open, walked by to look at a few local sights – a cathedral and a gigantic post office, went shopping at H&M, and walked back through Flower Street. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I finally got a STARBUCKS!!!
On the last day, some places were open, so it was a bit more eventful. The Vietnam War remnants Museum was quite the eyeopener. Vietnamese essentially blamed Americans for everything in the Vietnam War. They claimed that the Agent Orange Americans used caused birth defects, that Americans used Vietnamese to test new guns, and a lot of crazy stuff like that.
My favorite place was probably the Saigon Skydeck. It was a tall tower that looked down over Ho Chi Minh City. To Make it an even cooler experience, we were at the top during sunset. Seeing the sun drop over the city made a beautiful scene.
Ho Chi Minh City was like a roller coaster. There were some amazing sights and pretty displays because of Chinese New Year. but it also had its low points. The locals were not exactly warm and friendly and, you know, the (almost) kidnapping. But, even through the good and bad, Ho Chi Minh was still a pretty cool city that I don’t regret going to visit.
