Good Morning, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh and its thousands of motorcycles

You know how all those TV shows and articles always talk about how the city is teeming with motorcycles?

Well you don't really realize the full extent of how Ho Chi Minh is the Motorcycle Capital of the world until you reach the city and try your luck at crossing the street. You'll either get honked at or be *this* close to being hit. Exciting.


There are literally thousands of motorcycles at any given time of the day on the streets of Ho Chi Minh. Other than their massive number, however, I think the other thing that can really shock the city's first time visitors is the fact that when they ride motorcycles there, they do so while carrying CPUs, eat, talk on their cellphones, etc. They've got serious SKILLZ.

I wonder if the city will continue to have this many  motorcycles once it has modernized and hit the big time. You see, I feel like Ho Chi Minh is a city undergoing transformation. You know that it is about to cross the threshold towards modernity, but you can still feel old Saigon. Seeing the people on old bicycles wearing traditional Vietnamese garb, the street vendors and the beautiful old structures like the Notre Dame Basilica and the Saigon Central Post Office, one can't help but think that although its transformation into a modern and fast-paced Southeast Asian city is inevitable, it is still trying hard to hold on to its past.

City Hall

the Reunification Palace/Museum

Notre Dame

the beautiful Post Office. Read somewhere that it was designed by Eiffel

one of HCM's many art shops

durian. ugh.

HCM has many lovely, lovely parks.