To Saigon (November 1)

To Saigon

Instead of riding into Saigon, I took a bus as suggested by friends of Terry. The traffic is too hectic coming into Saigon, so the bus was a safer way to arrive.

In Da Lat, a little bus picks me up in front of my hotel. But wait, where does my bike go? I'm told that I am to follow the little bus to a bigger bus. Following the little bus goes well. I am able to keep up with it as we ride downhill. And then we turn uphill. I'm worried. I stand on the pedals to keep with the little bus. And suddenly the journey is over. We turn left into a hotel parking lot where the big bus to Saigon is parked.

I now wait to board the big bus. More people show up. Some foreigners and some Vietnamese. I place my bike in the compartment under the seats. We board. An argument ensues between some Dutch and the ticket agent. The Dutch have misplaced their tickets. "No ticket. No bus," says the ticket agent. The Dutch get mad, get panicked and eventually find their tickets. The entire time this is happening, a book seller is trying to hawk books. She seems oblivious to the plight of the Dutch, offering to sell them books no less than three times. She comes onto the bus at least four times to sell us some books. She is very persistant.

Do You Want to Buy a Book?

Along the way to Saigon, we stop three times. Twice for pit stops and another time for lunch. For lunch, I've brought my own PB&J sandwiches. A Vietnamese comes up to me and talks with me in English. I offer him a sandwich, but he has brought his own.

He was a student in Washington, D.C. years ago. We have a nice talk. We talk about the corruption of the country, the road building standards, environmental issues, politics, etc. It was nice to have an honest conversation about the country with someone from Vietnam.

Now travelling with other foreigners as most foreigners travel, I notice interesting habits. For example, many of the foreigners are keeping a journal of their travels, as I am. One is even using a moleskine notebook. Also, I notice how exhausting traveling by bus is. It is true that I was exhausted while traveling by bicycle in Vietnam, but at least I caused the exhaustion. In the bus, I was exhausted just by doing nothing - just sitting.

Entering Saigon, I noticed the road had nice wide shoulders, but there was a ton of traffic. It would have been possible to ride into Saigon, but it wouldn't have been very safe.

Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral.

Main Bu'u Dien - The Post Office.

Map of Saigon in Main Post Office.

We pass a new water treatment or wastewater treatment plant on the outskirts of Saigon to the east of Saigon (between Saigon and Bien Hoa). It is a joint venture between Japan, Vietnam, another company, and CDM. I'm not sure if it is for water or wastewater because all I can see are rectangular sedimentation ponds. It might be water treatment plant as I did not see any sludge digestion tanks.