saigon

I arrived in Saigon at around 6pm on Monday night following a pleasant two-and-a-half hour Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong - where I had been charged the equivalent of EIGHT pounds for a pint of fucking Heineken at the airport.

After all the bureaucracy involved with getting a visa to enter Vietnam, it was somewhat surprising and baffling when they didn't even look at it as I handed my passport over upon arrival. I've been held up for longer on domestic flights in the UK.

A car picked me up from the airport to take me to my hotel. The first thing I saw as we journeyed into downtown Saigon was a branch of Pizza Hut, which literally made me sit up straight and do a double take. This wasn't exactly what I anticipated would greet me as I entered a communist state, but I would later realise that this city is full of all kinds of similar, apparent contradictions.

After a frenetic trip down the immensely congested streets of Saigon, I arrived at my extremely basic but conveniently located hotel, dumped my bag and went out to explore. I took an instant liking to the place and felt a great rush of happiness that comes from the balmy heat and familiar smells of being in a city in South East Asia. I found heaps of really good bars - all teeming with travellers from acroos the planet - and guzzled probably a bit too much beer. By the end of the night I may have been shit faced, but the evening had cost me less than that one beer did at Hong Kong airport...

On Tuesday morning I ventured out in search of caffeine to wake me from the slumber of an awful hangover and the lingering effects of jet lag. As I was purchasing a can of red bull from a little shop, a guy came over to me and started to try and flog stuff he had about his person. Not unusual in this part of the world, I grant you, except for what he was trying to sell. I wasn't offered a tour, a guide book, a taxi, or an item of jewellry. This guy was trying to sell me copies of the international editions of British newspapers. In this instance it was the Financial Times and the Daily Mail. Yes, the Daily Mail. Is this really what Ho Chi Minh had in mind when he led the creation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam? That one day the workers would be able to walk the streets flogging copies of a newspaper ranting on about local councils not emptying the fucking bins on the other side of the world? Somehow, I doubt it.

As I said earlier, Saigon is full of many apparent contradictions. You can walk from the top of one street where there is a statue marking the communist victory to the other end, where there is a Guuci shop. KFC has even got an outlet here.

Having said all of this, I would not for a moment want to give the impression I wasn't enjoying my time here. This is a fantastic city. I just find it interesting that there is a Budweiser advert behind the statue they have erected of Ho Chi Minh...