I'd been turning the idea of buying a DSLR over in my head for a while, and — as usual once something gets into my head — once I'd weighed up the pros and cons there was no doubt: I wanted one, and I wanted it soon.
I didn't want to miss the chance to shoot proper photos of Vietnam and Cambodia. Waiting until Thailand would mean losing those countries, and waiting until Oceania, the Americas or Europe would mean losing practically all of Southeast Asia.
The camera I had my eye on was the Nikon D5100, with a Nikon 70-300 VR and a Sigma 17-70 2.8-4. I'd looked into buying it in Dalat — prices weren't too bad compared to Spain — but I was sure it would be cheaper if I waited until I reached the Vietnamese capital: Ho Chi Minh (officially), or Saigon to its friends.
The prices I found were generally much lower than back home in Spain, and on a par with — or even cheaper than — US stores.
In the end I bought almost everything at a shop called KIET, inside the Tax Department Store shopping centre. I paid a total of US$1,625 for the camera body, both lenses, a 16GB class-10 memory card, a tripod, and a case.
The warranty is international, so if something goes wrong in Spain, Nikon's local subcontractor wouldn't cover it and I'd have to go to one of the European headquarters. But since I'm not planning to live in Spain any time soon, that felt more like a perk than a drawback — given how poor that subcontractor's service is.
Out of all the shops I visited — and there were plenty — the one I ended up buying from was the best of the lot. That said, if any of you need to buy a digital camera or a lens, feel free to roam around most of District 1. It's packed with camera shops, especially along Le Loi street and around the Tax Department Store.
I hope the photos I'll be posting on the blog from now on — and the ones you can find in my photo gallery — will justify the expense.
Starting to get to grips with my new camera
Ho Chi Minh was basically one long shopping trip. I also picked up the birthday present I'd promised Ilze: a netbook. That was a bit trickier — we barely found any electronics shops with stock worth looking at.
On accommodation in Saigon: I couldn't find anything under US$7.50 for a double room. Most hotels will haggle down to $10, but if you want to go cheaper, head into the side streets of the tourist zone, where plenty of families have converted their homes into rooms for travellers.
Room rentals in Ho Chi Minh
In the meantime, I made good use of the new camera to capture some of what was going on around us in Saigon.
Security guards tend to nap on their motorbikes
You!! Tuk tuk??? 1 hour!!!
Vietnam has no shortage of shoe shops
Maybe not everything, but one thing Saigon will definitely show you is how motorbikes can bring an entire city to a standstill. The traffic is absolutely insane.
