We met a few chatty fellow travellers on our bus and banded together over our lonely planets to find a hostel. Included in this group was a tiny sweede girl who dccided against the plan and instead went to meet other friends. Co-incidently we were following round some of the girls the day before in Ankor Wat.
A little investagtory walk later and we found the local tourist shops area. Places were actually in little shops now as apposex to the street stalls and floors. Less chaos and pushy. We asked around for a local gym and after a little side road searching discovered the Arden (tennis club & gym in Solihull where I worked a bit and worked out alot!) of Saigon and Vietnam. It had two tennis courts and locals trying to play the gym was fairly small upstairs overlooking the courts but had all the equipment and weights needed. More than Arden and even LA Fitness. Powered out a decent workout despite still feeling sluggish from Cambodia.
I got a spot on the legs press (going for a decent 200kg+) from a guy in the gym who seemed to be running the place who had pecs bigger than my head. He seemed suitably impressed and so did his dad (we suspected his dad) who up untill then had looked completely dissintrested in me on the phone, however he couldn't have shot up or looked any eager to help spot me as well. £1 entry fee, very nice!
Next day and a return to the gym. We were greeted by 'the big daddy of the gym' as we nicknamed him and were granted free entry. I think he liked us! I figured we gained his respect through big weight lifts and nikki lifting pretty much the same as most of the local guys. I got more spots off him and lifted more decent weight. Leaving the gym some local man on the street was impressed by my post gym pump, made muscle guestures and felt my biceps. I wasn't weirded out, I was happy with the little ego massage :)
As a whole Saigon still felt grey a bit gubby and polluted. Not suprising since it looked like very man woman child dog and cat seemed to own a scooter! Perfecting the art of crossing the road was a must here, no traffic lights for pedestrians here!
- step out into the road regardless of what is coming down the road
- look at the oncoming traffic, but do not stare at one person and put them off
- do not panic at trucks or scooters hurtling towards you
- slowly but steadily walk across the road at a constant pace
- know (pray) everything will just go around you
- if in doubt wait and follow a local and use them as a shield
After heading out for some snacks and to do some evening walking we were caught out by some MEGA rain. We ran for some cover under a roof ledge until we were kindly offered refuge by a man who owned an art shop. We sat on some seats and watched a few guys painting whilst the water level rose to over ankle height in a matter of minutes. We decided it was about time we bought an umbrella!
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