"Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille", one of the timeless hits of Jacques Dutronc. It's a little later than 5, and instead of Paris, Saigon awakens from its short sleep. ("Les travestis vont se raser, les stripteaseuses sont rhabillées").

Still tired from a too short sleep (a loud party has been celebrated throughout the night as every other night as well I guess), I lean against the wall, while waiting for the pickup service.

The young girl, working at the restaurant opposite my hotel, is wiping the road with a seriousness that is almost touching ("les balayeurs sont plein d'balais"). All remnants of the party, every piece of paper, every micro fragment of dust is carefully wiped away. That takes a good quarter of an hour. After the work is done, I can't deny her the applause she deserves, which in turn leads to a surprised and delighted smile. An old insight: It is easy to start a day in a positive way.

 

At the bottom of society

A few meters away, the day begins in a less positive way. Two people - a woman and a man, as it turns out on closer inspection - rummage through the garbage bins. Their hands are protected by plastic sheets wrapped around several times. They are astonishingly successful in their nimble and with professional experience performed activities. Cardboard, bottles, but also all kinds of indefinable objects are fished out of the garbage, briefly examined and, depending on their usefulness, placed in a cart.

This is the opposite side of the metropolis, its human outpour, the people at the bottom of society whose days are dedicated solely to survival. In such moments, many things are put into perspective, including everything that one expects to learn, to experience, to hope for in journeys like mine. For there is a different world, a universe that is infinitely far away and yet so damned close...

 

Is this really my Bus?

After a short drive the pickup cab brings me to a waiting bus. Now I am a bit surprised, because instead of the noble sleeping bus, which I was promised, a more than run-down vehicle is waiting. Well, once again it will be a tough job, but what the heck, the abominable seats and the probably broken shock absorbers will be a cure for my spinal discs.

Experience has shown that the vibrations massage my affected vertebrae in such a way that they are guaranteed not to make a fuss for several weeks. But of course everything is just sound and smoke again, because the bus turns out to be a second pickup leading me to the final bus station. And there a monster of a Sleeping-Bus is waiting for me and leaves on time.

 

A big city

Saigon is more of a province than a city, Lonely Planet claims. The distance from the northernmost City District to the southernmost one is more than 120 km. So it’s not surprising that we drive and drive and yet are still in Saigon (it reminds me of Los Angeles, where we spend the night at the city border to traverse the city in the direction of Santa Monica during the whole of the next day).

Just outside the center, numerous companies are exclusively offering second-hand construction machinery. For miles and miles hundreds, thousands of rusted monsters are waiting for customers, but it actually appears to be a lucrative market. And in between, such as from another world, a tiny stall at the roadside, offering nothing more than small mirrors glittering in the sunlight …

Over and over again stops - over and over again the possibility to marvel at the artfully laid out, exotic things.

 

Fruit and vegetables
Unknown fruits and vegetables
... and a lot of indefinable products
... and also unknown products
Sauce? Jam? No idea ...
Sauces? Jam? … no Idea

 

The Mekong - for the last time

And there it is again, my river, the Mekong. It has long lost its homogeneous form, has become a many-armed octopus, creating a huge delta, hundreds of kilometers wide, a spider’s web of river channels, canals, narrow and wide water courses, millions of people living on its shores.

 

Mekong - the last time
One last look at the Mekong
A maze of canals and river arms
A maze of canals and river arms


The sea flashes on the horizon

From here it is not far to the South China Sea, where it finally – maybe a little tired and sluggish – reaches its final destination. Several times I wave at him expecting to see the last remaining big canal, but every time I am amazed by another, even broader one. And then, after nearly nine hours, we leave the Mekong Delta, and on the horizon the ocean blinks, but this is different ocean, the Gulf of Thailand …

 

Ha Tien

After many hours we reach Ha Tien, the last town before the border to Cambodia. A lively city with friendly people. The young men in the hotel do their best to make my visit as pleasant as possible. They give me tips where a tired but warm evening can best be spent.

And indeed - after dinner in a weird roofed restaurant, I discover a kind of fairground where a thousand people, mainly families with their children, enjoy their evening. I watch them for a long time and feel curiously happy ...

 

strange restaurant
A strange restaurant
... and a very tasty dinner
... and a very tasty dinner

 

P.S. Matching Song:  Nine Inch Nails - The Beginning of the End

And here the journey continues ...

 

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