A few weeks ago...

I'm sitting in a little cafe in the backpackers area of HCMC. It's called Pham Ngu Lao. There are heaps of restaurants and bars and lots of street 'touts' trying to sell you everything from cigarettes to wallets to books to hammocks to weed...(all at 4 times the price they sell to the locals...)
Pham Ngu Lao has always been the place the tourists come to and it is full of cheap hotels and restaurants. It used to be pretty rough area and even today you need to be aware of pickpockets and people ripping you off, for years not many of us 'locals'(people who live here as opposed to tourists) would come down here as it was not really 'Vietnam' but having lived in Saigon for nearly 8 years I am used to pretty much everything so even though it is still a little too 'touristy', I am liking the Pham Ngu Lao area more every day.

I recently moved into an apartment near Pham Ngu Lao so I am spending some time down here for the 1st time and I have to say...I am starting to really like the energy of the place.

I usually spend time in restaurants and cafes in the centre of Saigon but the Government seem intent on taking the soul out of the centre of the city and turning it into a soulless business area...they keep tearing down beautiful buildings and putting up ugly concrete hi rise everywhere...they seem to be trying to get everyone to move to district 7 or district 2 but again they have built ugly concrete hi rises there, apartments this time..thousands of them...but it is also soulless...(think docklands in Melbourne and you start to get the idea)

So places like Pham Ngu Lao are starting to become one of the few places still with history and character. So I am spending more time here...and I like it...if you come to Vietnam...maybe it is better to stay somewhere else...but you should come to Pham Ngu Lao to check it out...

Friday 9th March 2012. 6:24 PM

 I'm sitting in Pham Ngu Lau at the Buffalo bar. I'm sitting outside drinking Tiger beer in plain bottles....(WTF?) But it tastes good. I am waiting to have a meeting that has been delayed by an hour. The weather is perfect, warm with a gentle breeze. Perfect. 

The music is classic 70’s, “Baker Street” is on now and they have played Foreigner “It Feels Like The First Time”, “Alright Now” by Free and “More Than a Feeling” by Boston. God it's fantastic! Some of my top ten songs of all time right there! The waitresses are dressed kind of trashy but they seem nice. It's a real tourist area and it is the first time I have sat here... Oh now it's "Oonga Oonga Oonga Chaka, Oonga Oonga Oonga Chaka  " ha ha ha “It's more than a feeling....I'm high on believin'...” ha ha ha. 

I'm sitting on a busy cross road on De Tham Street and even though I have been here 8 years it still amazes me how they don't kill each other on the roads. No one - and I mean NO ONE, gives way to anyone... They don't appear to even touch their brakes! Shit!' Amazing no accidents... Ha ha ha.  

I live alone and life can get pretty lonely sometimes but this is one of those nights where I am happy to be alone and soak up the atmosphere... I guess this is what people who like to travel alone feel like. It really is wonderful.

Saigon can be so alive sometimes…there is always something going on and not one day is ever boring. In fact I never know what is going to happen from one day to the next…and it has been that way for 8 years!

This can be a wonderful city…

Oh no! Now they’re playing… “Welcome to the Hotel California….such a lovely place….” Ha ha ha…

You gotta love it....