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Today was a little bit of a non-day. Part of the problem with arriving for Tet is that it lasts for such a long time! We hadn't made any plans to progress on from Saigon, and many of the travel bureaux (particularly the ones recommended by the Lonely Planet as good!) were closed for a few more days. We decided to move hotel, down to the Pham Ngu Lao area, which is really backpacker central in Saigon, and then to have a wander around & plot our next move.
We checked into the Giant Dragon hotel, which overlooked the main drag. It was actually pretty good ... about a quarter of the price of our hotel in DOng Kwai (District 1), and very comfortable. We lugged backpacks up the stairs to our room to hear the cleaning ladies (who were just finishing) singing at the top of their voices - it was a really fun and cheerful place. After a quick clean up, we walked down to the Allez Boo Bar for a couple of Tiger beers and some lunch. I was keen to hire a moto and set off into the Saigon traffic, but Cheryl wasn't having any of it until we were a bit more familiar with the road rules (or lack thereof!). We thought the easiest way to orient would be to see the city by cylco (a kind of bicycle rickshaw for one passenger), so we flagged down a couple of drivers and set off for the pagodas of the Cholon district.
It was about this time that Ho-Chi-Minh-City-fatigue started to set it. It's difficult to explain the effect of living in such a noisy and smoky city - albeit only for a few days... I'm not sure how the locals manage. The constant buzzing, beeping, shouting and everything else that comes from the general friction of ten million human beings living in close proximity to each other is something other-worldy, leaving any visitor without earplugs or a hearing disorder in a sort of addled fugue. We flicked through the guidebook and thought the pagodas (Chinese temples) of Cholon would be a nice retreat from it all.
We weren't exactly right. Tet celebrations were still ongoing, and Vietnamese were flocking to the temples in huge numbers. There doesn't seem to be any set time for worship, and whole families from the age of two to eighty or ninety would come in to make offerings of flowers, incense or money to the shrine of their favourite deity. Joss sticks are the most popular offering - it's lit, and then the supplicant circulates around the temple, bowing three times to each shrine before leaving the incense in sand trays to burn away. There are also huge coils of incense hanging from the ceiling - they're bought by worshippers, and the temple acolytes light them and hang them up to burn away and carry prayers to the gods. The air is thick with smoke and noise, and every corner of the temple is packed with statues, paintings or frescos of the gods in their various aspects.
It was quite surprising that the temples were so utilitarian. They certainly weren't the carefully preserved sites you'd expect. Gold statues were stacked up against peeling painted walls. Stacks of rubbish were bagged up and left in the floor, for worshippers to step around as they made their way from altar to altar. Wires hung everywhere, without any consideration for the aethetics of the place - telephone cables would be draped from offering box to statue, and in one case looped around Buddha's ear! Monks sprawled asleep at the base of staircases, as visitors picked their way past them bearing fruit, flowers and incense (or digital cameras, in the case of the tourists there!). It was slightly uncomfortable to be there, very clearly in the way of people carrying out spiritual activities - it felt almost voyeuristic, but foreigners were largely ignored by the locals - the business of religion here really seems to be an everyday (and all-day) affair, where it's perfectly acceptable to have the temple TV (showing CNN) and Buddha's flashing neon halo plugged into the same socket.
We cruised through the streets of Cholon in our cyclos - a great way to travel on a warm, clear day. We saw the Qan Am Pagoda, which was filled with people, then moved on to Phouc An Hoi Qan, where children made offerings to a sacred porcelain horse, stroked it's mane, and rang a bell around it's neck. We saw Thin Hau, which had a huge covered courtyard with coils of incense creating a perfumed haze, and then crossed the district to Giac Lam, where we strolled the gardens and climed a 32-M stupa with panoramic views over the great smog of Saigon.
We cyclo'd slowly back to central Saigon; on the way we drove past a number of motorbike shops, and I realised why bikes are so prevalent in Saigon. The new Chinese models sell for around D4,000,000 at their cheapeast - about $300 ... not bad for a family 4-seater with built in airconditioning! Our drivers dropped us off at Pham Ngu Lao, and then it was back to the hotel to shower and change. After showering, I picked up my shirt, which absolutely reeked of traffic fumes ... I now understood why every second moto or cycle driver in Saigon wears a face mask. Cheryl and I had definately had enough of the capital - it was time to move on.
Over breakfast earlier that morning, we'd concoted a plan of sorts. Our original thoughts had been to move straight north - through Cat Dien national park and Dalat up towards Hanoi. We'd heard from a couple of fellow travellers, though, that the North was freezing cold. The unseasonal weather in China had pushed it's way down to Vietnam, and we actually heard later that the temperature in places like Sapa was well below zero. So, not wanting to give up the hot weather just yet, we decided to tour the lower Mekong by boat, and then make our make through the Cambodian border at Kaam Samnor and upriver to Phnom Penh. We still plan to see the north, but will try to cut back into the central highlands after a few days in Cambodia. Luckily our hotel's travel bureau was able to add us into group trip for the next day, and following roughly the right intinerary. We were really ready to go (three days in Saigon is probably one too many), and so we packed and settled in for an early-ish night, which was pretty good despite the revelry in the alley outside, which went on until it was time for us to leave at 7AM!
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