seeing the different sides of Ho Chi Minh City
... or Saigon, as many people still know it (so even its name has different sides). As usual, I opted to stay in the cheapest hostel I could find, which in HCMC was just off Bui Vien, or "walking street" as it is also known. The heart of the tourist district, this street is full of bars (with the odd beauty parlour or tattoo place squeezed between) pulsing with bright lights, with the loudest music I have ever heard, and for those not tempted in for a drink by that, some of them also have scantily-clad young Vietnamese men and women dancing on some of their tables. Thankfully you could neither see nor hear any of this from my hostel, but I walked through it most evenings on the way to meet a friend. It was kind of fascinating, although it never tempted me inside any of the venues. One afternoon, however, I was pulled in by someone I knew from my hostel, sitting at a table with a friend, and I joined them for one beer. We got onto the subject of the se...