Saigon!

Saigon is amazing - there is so much electricity (literally and figuratively) running through this city



Every corner I turned there was a ton of activity going on; I can't imagine ever getting bored in this place



Entry to one of the main streets downtown



Another amazing thing I loved about Vietnam: the coffee. It was delicious (lasting French influence), and it had been a while since I'd had good coffee. Here's what a cool coffee shop looks like:



The Opera House located in the heart of the city



Cute little old ladies walking in their traditional wear and rice hats



This is city hall, a really beautiful (and very loooong) building at the end of the strip



I didn't realize it until I saw the back of it, but this church is actually a replica of Notre Dame (built by the French during occupation)



It's a really cool feeling when you start seeing these things in different parts of the world, and can put the pieces together like this.....it makes things feel a lot smaller.



The Happy New Year signs were out in full effect; definitely a rad place to ring it in.



As I was saying above, there are more motor bikes in this city than I've ever seen. It's incredible to watch an oncoming wave of these things during rush hour.



I also tried eating snake (deep-fried) for the very first time here



As soon as you get out of the city, there are water buffaloes all over the place, trolling the rice fields



I also went to check out one of the jungles where a lot of fighting during the war happened, below is a communist bunker



I also climbed through a series of the underground tunnels that were set up during the war against the French, and later used during the US war



I gotta say - after seeing everything from Platoon to Apacolypse Now, seeing this stuff really made my stomach turn



Back in the downtown area, here is a massive statue of Ho Chi Minh in front of city hall



Starting out on the main strip at night, I really loved all of the different lights - it really gave a ton of character to the downtown area (not to mention all the people!)



City hall at night: I definitely will be coming back to Saigon at some point