All the time that we've been travelling, we've tried to mix together sightseeing and some fun things for the girls. So we decided to go to one of Saigon's waterparks for a bit of playtime. Like all good plans, this one fell apart straight away! We took a taxi to the Saigon Water Park, on the outskirts of the city. The taxis in Saigon have meters, so there's no negotiation to be done beforehand, which makes it very stress-free to get around. The only thing is, because $1 is worth 15,500 Dong, the meter ticks around at an enormously fast pace! I couldn't decide whether I should be watching the meter, and panicking, or watching our progress through the traffic - and panicking! As there are so many motorbikes, and seemingly no road rules, traffic is heart-stopping. Red traffic lights are only for those people who are nervous - the rest plunge straight through. The only road rule appears to be that the bigger you are, the faster you can drive straight through junctions and make unusual turns. Bicycles give way to motorbikes, who give way to cars, who give way to buses, who give way to lorries. If you're in a car turning out of a side road, or even pulling away from the curb, you just do it - no looking, no indicators, just go!
But, after the taxi meter had ticked up to 65,000 Dong, we arrived safely at Saigon Water Park, to find it is closed every Tuesday. To the sounds of Emily howling in the back seat we turned around and headed back to the other side of the city - through the traffic again. Fortunately Saigon has more than one water park, so we drove instead to Shark Waterland (
which marketing person though that was a good name for a swimming pool?), which turned out to be a bit dowdier, but open. And the meter had only managed to get to 170,000 Dong (phew - £7). We spent the rest of the day there, splashing down the slides and generally having a laugh.
We had to wander the backstreets to find a taxi to get home, passing drivers sleeping in their cyclos (rickshaws, Vietnamese style), an open air pavement barber (complete with hydraulic chair), ear wax cleaners (here it’s a profession, not a packet of cotton buds) and the ubiquitous 'Cobra Wine' shops. They sell bottles of spirit, containing full size cobras and other snakes. At only $2 a bottle, it seems good value for a drink and a snake to scare your friends with. But why, oh why, would you drink it? I guess it's no different to the Tequila worm, but you're not exactly going to be able to swallow it without it chewing are you?