It was time to pay the rent again so I made my regular monthly trip to the ANZ bank branch in Saigon today and thought I’d take some video footage of the trip. I wanted you guys to see how I usually get around here, which is on the back of a motorbike taxi (or xe om in Vietnamese). Anyways, here you go.

Alternatively, instead of playing the video directly from this page you can chose to download it manually. To do this right click on this download video link and select Save target as… (for Internet Explorer users) or Save Link As… (for Firefox users) and then select the location on your hard drive to save it to.

Just a short post today. I just wanted to post up a few photo close ups I took recently. It’s just an attempt at being artistic and all.

The first photo is of the base of a plant Amber gave me in Decemeber last year. It looks totally trippy doesn’t it? The second two are close ups of flowers another friend gave me the other day but I’m sure you can see that. These photos aren’t digitally modified either apart from slight adjustments in brightness and contrast.

I’ve visited several bars and clubs now in Saigon and thought it was about time that I put together a list of my favourite and frequently visited ones. If you’re looking for a more complete list of bars and nightclubs in Saigon visit the Ho Chi Minh City Bars & Clubs Guide.

Shadow Bar (aka Shadow Pub, Shadow Cafe)
41 Dong Du Street, District 1, HCMC
Comments: This bar moved premises from 56 Mac Thi Buoi Street on the 20th of January 2007. Open until 12:00am.

Apocalypse Now
2C Thi Sach Street, District 1, HCMC
Comments: This place gets totally packed on weekends with a mix of locals, expats and tourists. Open until about 1:00-2:00am

Go2 Bar & Club
187 De Tham Street, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, HCMC
Comments: Either have an easy drink downstairs listening to a mix of rock music or head upstairs and kick up your heals to hip hop and dance tunes. Open until about 4:00-5:00am.

Allez Boo
197 Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, HCMC
Comments: Always full of backpackers and local girls looking for a date for the night. Open until about 4:00-5:00am

Saigon Pho
266 De Tham Street, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, HCMC
Comments: This is one of few bars in the city that remains open around the clock. Very reasonably priced food and booze. Also has a surprisingly large food menu selection.

Lush
2 Ly Tu Truong Street, District 1, HCMC
Comments: A very decent club with the best hip hop and rnb mixes I’ve heard in this city. This place gets chockers on weekends. Open until about 1:00am and later on weekends.

Metallic Bar
41 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street, District 3, HCMC
Comments: Live music by local musicians belting away to popular songs from Metallica, Guns N Roses, CCR and many others. Open until 12:00am.

Heya all, I hope all you guys had a great New Years Eve. I had a satisfyingly quiet one this year. I think the Christmas Eve celebrations takes it out of most people here so New Years Eve tends to be a quieter affair. I pretty much just walked around the city soaking up the atmosphere and then had a few drinks at the Shadow bar with some mates.

Anyways, here are a few photos taken during the last week. The top two on the right were taken early this morning at around 3:30am at the Go2 bar in Pham Ngu Lao which is the backpackers area in District 1. This is one of the only areas that remains open after the general midnight curfew imposed on most businesses. You’ll pretty much get action here until 5:00am every morning.