Like a mother watching her child grow up, I´ve observed this city mature over the past 13 years, to the point it is ready to leave home. However, I think it still may want someone to do its dirty laundry: just not quite ready to leap out of its safety net into the world alone.
Ho Chi Minh no longer reflects the romantic Vietnamese imagery of bicycles, ao dais, and old women with betel stained teeth sitting on every corner. It´s been cleaned up, modernised, buildings have got taller, skirts have got shorter and the rickshaws have gone.
If you brave the hidden alleyways, you can still find the Ho Chi Minh of old. An old woman hunched over a steaming pot of pho, three small children playing marbles, rubbish collectors, fruit stands, clothing strung between white washed walls, a lone birdcage with a copycat minor whistling away: meander and you will certainly find pockets of yesteryear.
Some things never change. I still have the ice in my warm beer. My squatting thighs are back on track. I still have to throw the toilet paper in the rubbish bin. My ears are assured of the dulcet tones of Celine Dion as I wander down Bui Vien. I can hear the bells of the masseuses as they cycle their way through the streets. I can still hop on the portable scales and register ´overweight´ at 56kg. And best of all, I can still have a beer and a 45 minute massage and walk out with change from $3.
I am in awe of the speed of economic development in this city, appreciative of what has stayed and thankful I had the opportunity to watch it grow up into a vibrant, energetic and flourishing metropolis.
Gee, I dearly miss old Saigon but the new Ho Chi Minh City is, well, I guess interesting in it’s own way, but so commercial and different.
Though your correct, remnants of old Saigon can still be found a few steps away from the city center.