Don't Blink: First Impressions of Saigon

A few days ago, I returned from a weekend trip to Saigon. I know it's officially Ho Chi Minh City, but since city residents still call it Saigon, I'll call it that too. With all respect to Uncle Ho, it's a lot shorter to say -- and type -- "Saigon" instead of its official name.

It's taken me a few days to gather my thoughts and impressions, which are as lively and chaotic as the city itself. I think of Saigon as a place where you can't blink, lest you take your attention away from the scenery for one instant. There's a practical reason for that -- petty thievery like bag snatching is common, sometimes from a passing motorbike. And crossing the street requires all your timing and coordination skills. But mainly it's because this city is constantly on the move, and not exactly in an orderly way. From the swirl of traffic to the dizzying pace of new construction, Saigon seems to be in a state of perpetual motion. There's even movement in the quiet moments, when the wind catches and flutters the pale silk ao dais of girls chatting together on the sidewalk.

Things are moving on a macro scale, as well. I discovered that about three years ago the Vietnamese government began to allow Western businesses to set up in the country. In the District 1 area (downtown), there's a KFC and a Gloria Jean's cafe, as well as all the fancy brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc. Doesn't seem like McDonald's has made it in yet, but I'm sure it's working very hard to get there. I think that in just a few more years the downtown area will be indistinguishable from what I see every day in Hong Kong.

So I'm not terribly surprised to find that I don't have as many photos as I would normally have taken on a trip like this. I am not a good enough photographer to keep one eye on the action and the other eye looking through the camera lens. Also, taking out a camera was like unfurling a banner that said, "I'm a rich, naive tourist!" It was hard to get photos of people without attracting attention from salespeople of all kinds. We tried to discreetly take a picture of the woman in the photo above, but she caught on straightaway and said we could take her picture if we bought some bananas. The cost for couple of photos and a bunch of bananas? VND (Vietnamese dong) 30,000, or roughly USD 1.60.