Back out to Changi airport in Singapore via the MRL and we’re off to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Jetstar Asia. 
The plane is a dead ringer for an Easyjet bus, but it gets the job done. As you board, it’s unnerving when “smoke”starts to pour out from the overhead bins but its just misting to increase the humidity(?) or, maybe, they’re pumping disinfectant to eliminate the coronavirus (conspiracy theory alert). On arrival at Tan Son Nhat airport it’s apparent that we’re not in Missouri anymore, but we’re not concerned about the general chaos as we pre-booked a taxi, very cheaply, through Booking.com, who do a great job in coordinating with local taxi services. Once on the road, the full extent of the vehicular ecosystem is made clear, 85% under powered motorbikes and scooters buzzing in all directions, 10% cars and trucks who do not give a shit, buses are the worst, and 5% targets, aka pedestrians: We are very afraid.
Expecting a more challenging environment, we chickened out and booked an Airbnb in a condo tower block for about $30/night(!) but we still have to be processed on arrival with, not only the usual passport details, but also a medical review with temperature check. Passing the test, we ascend to the 31st floor to a modern apartment with an expansive view of the city: Luxury. However, we’re nervous about heading out as walking far is not recommended due to the ludicrous traffic, poor air quality and tropical conditions. It’s absolutely not Singapore nor, as we’ll find out later, Bangkok and a bit intimidating for us rookies.
Luckily, we implement “Grab”, the local replacement for Uber/Lyft, and it works so there’s no worries about taxi meters or language difficulties and it delivers us to Hum, an amazingly good vegan restaurant in Central Saigon (Saigon and HCMC seem to be used interchangeably even by the locals). Afterwards we skip the disco dance emporium “Apocalypse Now” and, instead, head to an open air “Bia Saigon” beer hall with cheap drink and seafood and local clientele. Maybe, this place isn’t so bad after all.
Since the end of the, as it’s known here, American War, the Vietnam government has been located in Hanoi in the North but the previous Southern regime’s HQ is still here, now known as the Independence Palace. The whole place is a virtually untouched time capsule from the 60s.
The basement command center with its period US communications gear is particularly evocative. Next up we meet-up with our old neighbors from Portland, Lou and Anne who happen to be in Saigon at the America time as us. We have lunch on the 50th
floor of the Bitexco Tower, a tourist trap that has seen better days. There’s not much of a view due to the haze/smog and the unwashed windows! 
We plan to catch up with Lou and Anne in Da Lat and head on to our preplanned vegan street food tour, hosted by two young Buddhist entrepreneurs, Spring and Hieu. Boy, what an eye-opener this turns out to be as we are immersed in the real heart of Saigon street life, going to places we would have never considered venturing for a moment. It’s not that those places were dangerous but that they were often narrow, chaotic and alien (to Western middle class eyes).
Living conditions were unbelievably crowded, but everyone was out on the street trying to earn a living. The space in front of your home is, invariable used as commercial space and the ground floor doors and windows nearly always fully open to the street, so the internal family life is open to the passer-by. One cool thing is the Buddhist altar that every home and business displays prominently, each one being unique. Since it’s not OK to photograph these, I don’t have pics so Google “Vietnam home altar”. 
Oh yeah, the food was great, some of the best we had the entire trip, and we learned a lot more about the aftermath of the Vietnam/ American war and the continuing distrust between the North and South Vietnamese.
We re-enter the privileged hipster world at the “Heart of Darkness” craft beer bar, highlighting the extreme contrasts available in HCMC, before heading back. Forgot to mention that Spring and Hieu initiated us into the ritual of crossing the street. Not a trivial matter in a city of 15 million with no traffic lights. Basically, you plan to avoid the cars and head out into the street at a steady but measured pace and let the scooters and motorbikes flow around you. I only got stranded once before being rescued by Hieu. Saigon is not the best place to start out on this, I really recommend you getting some practice in a smaller city!
The next day we’re off to the jungle, Cat Tien National Park, to be precise, we’ll see if we need our malaria pills and mosquito nets or not.
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