The Vespa Way

Tonight was one of the most incredible tours I've ever done while traveling.  Four of us decided to do a Saigon After Dark tour with Vietnam Vespa Adventures.  This was a four hour tour of Ho Chi Minh City on an Italian scooter.  Each of us had our own driver who picked  us up at our hotel around 6pm and drove us to the Cafe Zoom. 

Once there, we were greeted by our main guide and eventually two other girls from Australia who were also part of our tour.  It was explained to use, while drinking some Tiger beer at our outdoor table on an extremely busy corner in downtown HCMC, that we would be visiting several different establishments, trying a variety of Vietnamese foods, having some beverages along the way and also enjoying some local music. 

HCMC has approximately 9-10 million people and over 5 million motorbikes are registered for the road.  It is crazy how many of them there actually are...weaving in and out of traffic, honking their horns to warn people they are driving by.  The good think is they don't go all that fast, 20-40km an hour, but that's plenty fast when you are trying to get around this city.  What's even more incredible is how many people you see on a bike...the other day I saw a mother, father, toddler and an infant all on one bike!!!  Plus most people wear face masks because of the pollution, and helmets are now the law, so you see most people wearing them as well.

Once we finished our beer and some delicious rice paper nachos, we headed over to our bikes, put on our helmets and jumped on board.  It gets dark in HCMC very early...by 6pm at the latest...so by this point, it is dark out, all the neon lights on the buildings...and there are lots of them...were flashing and the evening is warm and beautiful. Since this is our second time on the bikes we are a bit more courageous and start taking some photos of the crazy traffic...and it is crazy, especially while on the back of a bike.  I really can't describe how incredible it was to see the city in this way.  It was like you were fully immersed in the city and all your senses were on high alert. 

Our first stop was a small outdoor restaurant that was about a 10-15 minute ride through the various districts, over a couple bridges and then down a small street.  It was like one minute you were in the middle of all the hustle and bustle and then after just one turn, you were in a totally new environment.  We pulled up along the sidewalk and ushered to our waiting table.  We were brought another beer and then course after course was brought out for us to eat.  We started with crab legs coated in some sort of salt, then baby clams cooked in a sweet chili sauce, we had mussels boiled, then coated with peanuts, green onion and baked, there were noodles and rice of course and the piece de resistance... frogs legs.  Yes, that's right...I ate frogs legs...but I'm not really a fan.  The worse part about it all was that the live frogs were in a container right behind us at our table!!! This was only our first official stop and I was full already and loving every minute.

It was time to head out again, so we found our drivers and headed through another section of the city.  I really had no idea where I was most of the time, but you could recognize some the vary tall buildings which acted as landmarks.  The streets were extremely busy as Saturday and Sunday nights are the two busiest nights in HCMC...it was interesting to see young women driving their motorbikes in dresses and party clothes...just the norm here for sure.  It was interesting to see all the motorbike dealerships with huge window displays, college students sitting out along the Saigon River and boats with restaurants sailing up and down the river with all their flashing lights.  Quite a spectacle...and you can't forget all the horns honking and loud music playing from every street corner. 

 This time we stopped at a restaurant that was making Vietnamese pancakes. This was not at all what I thought it was going to be and very different from what we call pancakes in Canada.  They are made with eggs and many vegetables and fried in a pan over high heat.  It kind of looked like a combination of a crepe and an omelet.  We watched them make pancakes for a while and then headed to our table where were were served some more drinks, along with a variety of other foods....spring rolls, meat and seafood cooked over an open flame and of course pancakes...which are pulled apart and rolled in lettuce leaves, dipped in sauce and eaten with delight.  Once again, we ate and ate until we could eat no more.

Our next stop required our drinks to be preordered and our arrival time was also scheduled.  We took a few pictures before we headed out again and this time is was a bit shorter of a ride.  We appeared to go in a back door of a building and up several flights of circular stairs and finally we walked into this room filled with local people.  It felt a lot like you walked into someone's living room, as someone was playing the piano, another person was playing the violin and someone was singing a very beautiful song.  It was pretty funny as all six of us walked in and everyone in the place turned around, stared at us and starting looking and/or pointing in our way.  We sat very quietly while our drinks were served...it was small and packed... and listened to a few songs by this guy who was doing several cover tunes.  Very interesting when he started singing Lady Gaga's song Payphone with just a piano.  He did a great job and I think we were all a bit memorized by the entire atmosphere. After about 10 minutes we were whisked back down stairs, hopped on our bikes and headed to a local rock bar.

All these places were so off the beaten path I'm sure we would never have found half of them if we had to find them on our own...that's what also made this tour so fantastic...nothing traditional about this at all.  We went into the bar to hear a guy doing all kinds of cover tunes...and really sounded like a lot of the artists.  It was about 10pm, so we stayed for about 20 minutes, had a final drink...at this point I was so full, I couldn't drink or eat another thing.  We mingled with some of the people at the bar and then headed back for some final group shots before being taken back to our hotel. 

It was hard to believe it was over, as it felt like it just began.  The rush you get from being driven on the back of a Vespa in the middle of the traffic in HCMC is pretty incredible.  This tour was certainly not for the faint of heart and you really need to put  trust in your driver that he knows what he's doing when he is trying to maneuver around hundreds of motorbikes in the downtown or down a dark little alley, but if you ever get a chance to visit this vibrant city, I would certainly recommend the Vespa tour by far.

WOW...is all I can say...and we are all still alive!!

Until next time...  Lisa