Visiting Saigon at night has been quite an experience. District 1 (the main back-packer area) consists of a warren of streets and alleyways all full to the brim with all sorts of restaurants, eateries and shops catering to the tourist. The nightlife of course includes bars.  I have mentioned Go Go on one of the main corners – a real scam for first arrivals. Along with the massive neon signs and blairing music there is an army of staff trying to tempt you for a 3 for 2 Happy Hour deal. The chairs outside at first appear like a good vantage point to relax and observe the chaotic street life. We decided to have some anniversary drinks there out of curiosity more than anything else. We ordered two cocktails, and we got mostly water. I sculled the Long Island Ice Tea and we agreed that there was maybe a half a shot of spirit in the whole thing. Arguing at the bar only got us another nasty drink, so we walked on further.

As we walked I noticed in one 20 m stretch of street there was a bizarre scene. There were rows of plastic chairs on both sides of the street all facing the road like they were meant for a performance.  Westerners and locals were all drinking, obviously the drinks were half the price there, so we plonked down on these small little chairs ( That has been a problem for me is the small chairs in the food spaces. and street food , you basically sit on a kids chairs. ). It was odd because we were staring at the people across the street and they back at us, someone made a joke that you were picking the partner for the night. The time was well occupied talking to others about their journey. A local man was doing fire breathing and snake swallowing ( poor guy was gagging so much, and the petrol he was filling his mouth with looked like it was making him very sick  ) …and you had the continual bombardment of touts trying to selling you just about everything. Overall though it was a great vibe and atmosphere, such a contrast to the Go Go type places, and you get bang for your buck.

There was some noticeable unrest in a nearby bar during the night. a  fight broke out and it certainly caused some form of commotion.Its hard to say what happened but a western guy in his 30s later ran out by himself, and we saw a Vietnamese woman very drowsily being helped out by some other people – probably a spiked drink noticed by a bystander in time before anything bad happened. By about 3:30am things have well and truly packed up. The hotels in the side alleys completely lock up with metal gates and doors at a certain time – great for safety (but maybe not in case of a fire). To get back in I had to ring the doorbell. A lot of these hotels have the reception area serving as a family home for the owners, with their living room and extended family literally lounging by the reception desk during the day. Their sleeping area must have been close because it only took less than a  minute for one of them to very sleepily unlock the gate for us – oops.