I just returned to Cambodia from Vietnam on a little 100-seat Angkor Air airplane with propellers and jet. The flight from Saigon was almost exactly 40 minutes as scheduled. Its amazingly easy to fly between these cities. Vietnam was as I expected - teeming crowds of agitated people beeping their horns, much less English spoken and much more Chinese. The bus from Chaudop to Saigon was seven hours of sprawling aluminum shanties, and we watched a glittery New Years extravaganza while driving through what felt like a massive refugee camp. Saigon is in some ways reminiscent of large impersonal Chinese cities, with the hammer and sickle plastered everywhere, and my hotel had an atmosphere of suspicion like I was in a noir spy novel. I didnt stay in the tourist area, but went for something cheaper more for Chinese businessmen. Though of course I met friendly people as well, and made some interesting discoveries, such as some delicious tofu and tomatoes in a little hole-in-the-wall vegetarian restaurant, and got to watch a lot of interesting new years performances. That city has lots of tourism concentrated in the old French area, which has nice cathedrals, cafes, boutiques, malls, galleries, parks, and museums. That area has lots to offer that you couldnt get here, such as rare European culinary items, but I would say Cambodia is without question a far nicer place than Vietnam, and I feel no desire to work in Vietnam despite the higher salary. I am glad to get a more precise sense of what that country is like, since it comes up so often here. The tensions in there often spill over to here, such as refugees, armies, politics etc. And the city of Saigon was originally a Khmer city, before the influx of Vietnamese from the north a few centuries ago. It makes sense that Hanoi would be the capital of that country, since it has a much deeper Vietnamese history, and I look forward to making my way to that city someday, hopefully on train down from Guangxi. But next trip: Kunming.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 13:56:42 +0000
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