Saigon Nightlife

The warm night forces many tourists to retreat to the noisy bars and cafes in Le Loi St in the Pham Ngu Lao district. Motorbikes whiz past the befuddled tourist as they attempt to cross the two metre wide road strip. A lady walks past pushing a trolley with a weighing machine, a coin operated machine commonly found in a shopping centre or a local chemist. Hoping that the tourist will want to see how much they weigh, but no one takes up her offer.

A street performer, a boy no older than eleven, dressed in red shorts and t-shirt stops abruptly in front of the café. He shouts “Oi Oi” to catch the attention of the customers. Lighting two sticks, he slowly lifts up the flaming metal skewers for dramatic effect. Bringing the skewer closer and closer to his mouth, he extinguishes it by closing his mouth around the burning stick. A small fee is necessary to collect for his street performance, as the tourists half heartedly reach into their pockets and give him a few thousand dong.

Upstairs in the Refinery, locals and expatriates gather together to listen to the latest tunes spun by an English DJ from his iMac laptop and Denton turntables. American hip hop music fills the air, as a group of local Vietnamese girls take a long drag of their Café Crème cigarettes in one hand and drink cans of Saigon beer in the other. Wearing headbands, jeans, cardigans, and colourful dresses they look no different to American or Australian women. Overpriced alcohol continues to flow at the bar as people mingle on the dancefloor. Suddenly, a noticeably large group of young American English teachers overtake the area.

Inside a cafe on De Tham St, Pham Ngo Lau district

Over at Apocalypse Now, affectionately known as “Apo” by the locals, is a popular nightspot. At the doors stand several security guards and a dozen more inside. It has the appearance of a sleazy bar/nightclub, with eye gouging alcohol prices. By midnight the place is overflowing with expats, local women prostitutes and openly gay men. The entire club is overcrowded, barely enough room to even stand on the dancefloor. As the club goers attempt to dance, it is a sea of people that sways and compresses as more people enter the room. A group of rowdy Australian men hug each other, bumping all in their wake. It would not surprise many to see a fight or riot break out given how many people are in such a small space.

I’m out like carting weigh machines,

Matthew

I’ve been in Saigon for about 2 days and 1 night. Life is hectic over here. With the motorbikes buzzing past constantly, people walking on the streets, the markets and the street hawkers. We’ve had a full on two days, even though we haven’t done everything we could in those two days if you know what I mean.

The flight was long from Sydney. We had to change in Darwin, and then we arrived in Saigon. When we were touching down you could see the lights of the city, which were very close to the airport. It was then that the excitement hit me, that I was entering a new city, a totally foreign place. There were the faint outlines of bunkers, half cyclindrial shape sheds which I understand were bomb shelters but are now used to store trucks and equipment.

We got to the hotel at about 11pm. After haggling at the airport with the taxi driver, we conceded this 50,000 dong fee for this mysterious ticket. I knew it was BS and kept arguing with him and also he refused to use the taxi meter. My #1 rule is to use the meter. But I was tired after it was only a few dollars, so I gave in and he was adamant about it (as was I). Anyway, the fixed fee proved to be accurate but the ticket fee was bogus as I later found out.

We then checked in, headed out to this area called Pham Ngoc Lau which feels like Kings Cross. After walking around we decided on this cafe with little plastic seats and had some spring rolls and a beer, and watch the traffic go past. It was Halloween, and the local kids were out in full force. There were facepainting, kids on motorbikes crusing up the street and even a guy with a complete grim reaper outfit! Then all of a sudden there was furious honking, and a motorcade of about 50 kids came past in Halloween gear and shouting. The streets were alive!

We were still starving and wanted some Pho. We had walked past this place called Pho Qunyh. It looked like a local joint on the corner with plenty of locals inside. It was nice and clean, so we went in and ordered “pho dac biet” (special pho). I have one word to describe it: AWESOME! Cost us about 40,000 dong ($2.50 AUS) with lots of noodles and meat.

Now it was around 12am and pretty tired after flying and out for 12hours. But it was a Saturday night in Saigon so we  hit up a club called Crazy Buffalo! It has two levels, with a club in the upper level. Very tiny inside, but it was jam packed. They were playing a lot of US Top 40 music like Akon and Black Eyed Peas. The locals knew the words (not sure if they understood it!) and had new phones like the Nokia Express. I’ve seen a few iphones around in Saigon too! The beers are very cheap in Saigon, about 12,000 ($0.75 AUD) in some cafes but in the club it was about $3.

And there you have it, my first night in Saigon!

I’m out like the Crazy Buffalo,

Matt.