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- It has been several days since I arrived in Saigon last Friday, the 22nd. Yes, I prefer to call it by its old name. Saigon sounds dreamy and exotic, like a faraway land of heady nights and sticky days. Ho Chi Mihn City sounds too bureaucratic. Getting off the 109 airport bus (a van really) and crossing the park to Pham Ngu Lao St., nothing seemed familiar except for Allez Bouz, the large bar at the corner of De Tham St. which I remembered from my trips from before. Yes, more than a decade has passed since I last felt the heat in Saigon. This is my fourth time in this vibrant city and it feels so different. The past few days have seen me scraping my soles at the sidewalks of District 1 all the way to the glitzy shops near the river. Skyscrapers, thankfully, aren’t that much yet, and the colonial buildings still stand out. The shoe shine boys are still there and the offers for moto-taxis and massage still ring in your ears, but they’re less obtrusive. Even the vendors at Ben Than Market are not as pushy anymore. No more arm-grabbing and screaming. Perhaps, the most obvious change are the stop lights at busy intersections and the motor-bike riders that actually observe them. Of course, the streets of Saigon wouldn’t be itself if you don’t have a couple of riders using the sidewalks or going-on counterflows; but it is so much easier to cross the streets now. Grab is indeed a blessing. No more being at the mercy of scrupulous cab and moto-taxi drivers who add an extra zero. I actually enjoyed zipping around Saigon on a Grab bike more than here at home. Yes, Saigon has been gentrified.
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