Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Arrived early morning in the dark... Walked through the city as it was waking up! Realising we were in a real Vietnam metropolis as we passed a Starbucks and signs for the one and only Vietnamese Mc D's. Although I am sure it will not be for long.
Lost in the narrow backstreets which are tiny streets off streets off streets and same again :) Finally found the hotel with some help from locals. We had wandered to it the most confusing way - it is really only 2 turns from a main road - doh!
Checked our bags in and got ourselves sorted with a bit of blog admin before heading out for breakfast. We indulged in a few baked goods from ABC bakery- very local. (side note - almost all sweet baked goods in Asia flatter to deceive. The cakes look amazing and when you bite in, it is dry or tastes of beef...my favourite so far is the croissant -crescent shaped ordinary bread).
We then ventured out across town to find the War museum. We spent a good couple of hours here, not a huge amount to see but lots to read and some really interesting photo exhibitions of and about the war. Also quite a few military vehicles on display outside:
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| HCMC War Museum - Planes... |
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| ...and tanks.... |
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| ...and monks getting in on the photo action! |
Following this we ventured back to the hotel to check ourselves in properly and have showers etc. Our room was great, again (we love Vietnam for sleeping) and it had a bath (sort of)!!
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| Either i've grown or this is a bidet... |
Afterwards we went to the reunification palace which was home to the Southern Vietnamese resistance movement. We obviously found this interesting and took it very seriously....especially when we got into the underground bunker area which was like a bond movie villain set...
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| Reunification Palace, military base for the Southern Vietnamese command. |
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| The tank that came crashing through the gates (actually a replica) |
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| Well hello Mr Bond, we've been expecting you..... |
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| I think Ana has just launched some Nukes at Hanoi.... |
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| Ana just completely ignoring the 'don't touch signs' Like all the Asian tourists - maybe we have been here too long? |
Andy had found a sky-view restaurant online which was at the top of the tallest building in Ho Chi Minh. You can visit this like the shard - pay a stupid some and get the good views. Or you can go to the restaurant which is higher up and just buy a drink. Although the one snag is that the drinks started at 5 pounds ... Hummm... We don't have the budget for such extravagance (as we've overspent already here, it's not just me being tight!) so asked if we could go up to the restaurant to look at the menu :)
We were escorted up one set of elevators and met at the top by a young man in a suit who then walked us (us wearing shorts and t-shirt looking a bit worse for wear) around the back to a set of elevators. Popped us in there and we traveled up an ear popping 50 floors to be met again and taken to the bar. We went in, looked at the spectacular night time views, glances at the menu and made our way down! We will save the pennies for the shard ;)
We ate on the street again, this eve at the foot of the gigantic building. We had Cau Lau which comes with it's own stove! It's a big pot of broth which you fill with veges and in our case, fresh seafood and you cook it yourself. This was great! So much food and a great experience, the locals were bemused by our presence and we had a good laugh with the waiting staff. Only low point was the young boy cleaning people's shoes on a Sunday eve at 8pm... Bringing back to reality with a bump!
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Cau Lau - exciting Viet street food
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| and of course, beer Saigon for 10K Dong (25p) |
The following day we'd planned a dreaded organised tour to the Chu Chi tunnels which were used in, you guessed it - the war. We were picked up at our hotel and then drove around picking everyone else up at their hotels... This took a little bit of time and once done our guide introduced himself to us. We obviously have forgotten his real name but he called himself John Wayne for us western folk who forget! He was not as cringy as the Halong guide but still tried too hard with the humour!
We toured the tunnel area with him in our group of 40 which was mediocre at best but the tours all follow a set route. Once we'd watched a 15 minute video about the Vietnamese who won awards for killing Americans (killing Americans followed almost every sentence spoken) then wandered around an area through the forest. There is a part where you can fire a rifle if you'd like! A few chose to, Andy and I are already experts being both a Sea and Army Cadet (yes that's right folks, if you didn't know already you do now) so we declined. We then made our way to the actual tunnels! These have been made bigger to allow for visitors (ie westerners) to go in and experience. You can exit at 3 different points at different distances, I got out after the first 10m! Claustrophobia was something I'd never really worried about... Until now-wimp! Andy followed all the way to the end and squeezed through the tunnels as they got narrower and longer.
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| Ana in the Chu Chi tunnels, they are pretty small |
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| And they get smaller as you go on. |
We then got to try some tapioca. Random! but interesting - I had not had this as a vegetable before.
Once that was done the tour was finished and we got back on the fun bus to Ho Chi Minh. We got off the bus a little earlier than our hotel and headed to the Cathedral and the surrounding park to enjoy the sun. We then sourced some early Mother's Day cards and wrote and sent those at the cool post office. Designed by none other than Monsieur Eiffel, he of the Parisienne tower fame.
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| The old post office, nice work Mr Eiffel |
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| Also nice, say, have you though of building something taller, maybe pointy? |
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| International phone booths like in old movies. |
That evening we went to a noodle place for tea - 'fast nood'. Like a subway for noodles, tasty and where all the cool kids hang (and us).
After this we wandered through the park to see what the locals were up to, apparently a lot. So we saw, hacki sack type games with mega ripped and fit men and ladies. BMX boys doing cool stunts, Marshall arts class including the karate kid crane stance. Even people working out on the out on gym equipment (like you get down Canoe Lake)
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| They were upside down for ages! Note the girl in the immortal Karate Kid crane stance, its a real thing! |
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| He's just a skater boi |
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| A special gym machine to practice the karate kid 'wax-on, wax off' move. Look at me go! |
We had decided to head for Can Tho next, so after only a couple of days in HCMC (as our visas were running out), the next day we headed to the small, local bus station to get a bus out to the main western bus station (Mein Tay) several km away.
We got to the local station and I tried twice to get us on empty number 2 busses, after being told I couldn't get on our bus twice and the empty buses driving off and leaving us, I finally got the message we were standing in the wrong place and we headed to the other side of the bus station to await the right bus (it's never easy!)
Whilst we were waiting, we met a guy from Spain, Marco (who now lives in Switzerland), he was travelling our way too. We had a chat about his extensive travels and whiled away the journey exchanging travelly stories.
We got to the main bus station and managed to inadvertently purchase local bus tickets instead of the plush express bus tickets we were planning to get. Good price and we were pretty happy until we boarded. The bus itself was fine but like local buses all over Asia, this bus scheduled for a 1pm departure was going nowhere until all the seats were full. Everyone was crammed in and trying to avoid eye contact with all of the sellers getting on and trying to force their wares on anyone who made eye contact!
When we got underway about an hour later the journey was pretty good and Marco ended up sat next to a young Vietnamese lady who was using him as a learning resource to complete her English study work!
We arrived in Can Tho in the late afternoon and hiked from the bus station on to our hotel, a surprisingly long walk but made more interesting as Marco was still with us. We had booked ahead whereas Marco was a little less conservative and just decided to see what was available when he turned up. No room at our place (other then a family room for 3 and I pointed out the we were not family - sorry Marco!). We said our goodbyes and checked into hotel Kim Long.
Another good pick, clean rooms and they run tours that come highly recommended online, you can just go to the floating Markets on the Mekong delta with a boat driver or you can take a guide also. The guides are local students who are funding their way through uni and have good reviews so we put aside the tour embargo for the next day and booked a guide too. Apparently we would be joining another couple so we could split the cost if it turned out to be a another comedy tour disaster.
That evening we went out for an explore of the local markets and at the hotels recommendation we went to the local Vietnamese restaurant district to eat. We spotted a bustling place filled with locals, put on our best touristy smiles and grabbed a chair.
Some random selections later from a local menu and we're presented with some pretty awesome bowls of food.
I (Andy) was particularly pleased having ordered one dish then getting 2 heaped bowls including a pork joint all to myself! It was great and we both left well and truly stuffed having eaten a feast with beer and soft drink for just over £2. I love Vietnam!
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| 2 bowls for the price of 1! Bargain |
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| Ana peeling her freshly purchased Mangoes |
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| Hmmmm....meat |
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| Hot Dog! Moonlighting as a Xe Om (motorbike Taxi) driver... |
Back to the hotel for a good nights sleep and up very early doors the next day (about 5:30) for a take away hotel breakfast of 'omelette in bread'. We met Sam, our guide. He is a young guy who's speaks great English and has just finished his uni degree in tourism, we also met the Australian couple we were sharing the tour with- Denise and Wayne.
Headed to the pier where Muon (our boat driver) loaded us aboard and set out along the Mekong. Sam talked to us about the floating markets we were going to visit and a little about how the markets work.
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| Sam, our guide (left) and Muon, the boat driver (right). Thanks guys! |
The market is a great, bustling place to be and fascinating. A little bit like any Asian shopping experience being bumped and pushed around only in boats! It's a great experience and a lively friendly market, everyone was smiling and taking things in their stride
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| This guy chugged past us maybe a little late to the market! Still, he's nearly sinking under sugar cane so you can't really blame him! |
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| Almost all of the boats have these cool eyes on them, this is from the 'olden days' when small fishing boats painted them on to scare off the crocs, now they all have them and the crocs have moved on. |
We then headed to a smaller local market where boats were much smaller and people were buying their groceries and trading on a much smaller scale, it was fascinating to be part of it and our driver bought a pineapple chopped it up and shared it with us all whilst piloting the boat, talk about multi tasking!
After the second market we pulled up to a rice noodle factory. it was a good short tour and showed us the basics of making rice noodles, stopped here for a Ca Phe Sua Da (our new favourite, iced Vietnamese coffee with sweetened condensed milk - tastes like caramel coffee)
Sam was very engaging and entertaining, seeming genuinely happy to be showing us new things we had not seen before. we strolled past rice fields and stopped to talk about how rice paddies need to be flooded and then emptied at the right time to protect against snails infesting young sapling plants but still encourage rapid growth - its interesting stuff.
Sam picked up some new words from us along the way too ('hedge' and 'watering') and we learnt a lot about him, his family and the local environment but please don't test us on our Vietnamese :-/
We stopped of for lunch and then headed back to the boat and putted back. A few times the engine started to labour as a plastic bag had wrapped itself around the prop. Moun would let the boat drift, untangle the plastic and sure enough dumped it straight back in the river, he did this at least 3 times on the way back, complaining each time. Think ahead Moun, stop throwing them back in!!
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| Lazing on the Mekong :) |
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| Cool little local boats with the (required) sun shade |
Back to the hotel and feeling a little jaded after the early start went for a mooch round town and generally relaxed. Before dinner we met Wayne and Denise on the terrace of the hotel for a drink and catch up on the day's events. They were a great couple to be with and easy to get along with on the tour. That evening explored the river front and the night market a little more. A nice bustly place to spend some time. creatures of habit, we went back to the same local place and I (Andy of course) ordered the same massive feast and beer for a pound! Great food!
Arranged a bus through the hotel to take us to Chau Doc the next day where we would spend our last night in Vietnam. We had breakfast out and headed off to the station in a minibus from the hotel. Caught the bus on to Chau Doc and got a minibus the other end straight to our hotel. Whilst getting in the minibus an older couple (the guy was 80 plus) were unsure what was going on around them. Andy popped over to let them know what they should be doing and they were loaded into our van :) Along with them there were another couple in the back who we chatted to briefly (Julien and Lien). They were also heading into Cambodia the next day and had sorted their onward travel via boat so that looked promising for us!
Turned up at the Murray hotel and first order of business was to book the boat crossing from Chau Doc across the border into Cambodia and all the way to Phnom Penh for the next day.
We have read so much about this crossing and spoken with people en route and still were getting conflicting opinions about whether the boats run at all, how much they are and whether they go all the way to Phnom Penh or not.
At the hotel it couldn't have been easier. Straight choice of 3 services with a hotel recommendation for the cheapest, tickets booked we headed to our room. Wow! this room is huge and luxurious, another great find, immense, immaculate and clean with a capital C! Checked out the bar area to explore the facilities and bumped into Mr Murray. A long chat later we learned about the details of the border crossing, the history of the hotel and the challenges with setting it up and all about his family.
Next day we were picked up in a cycle rickshaw and shuttled to the ferry port for our boat to Cambodia! We met Julian and Lien again who were catching the same boat as us and boarded our little speedboat for the 6 hour journey. We were asked to wear our life jackets for 5 mins until we had passed the boat checkpoint. pretty pointless as mine had a max weight of 80Kg but a snappy and sweaty fashion accessory until we were truly under way. The trip was great, with little school style packed lunch. and a pretty smooth ride along the river unless we passed a speedboat coming the other way. The views along the way were great and we saw locals fishing, workers in the fields and animals. Ana and Lien got chatting and I settled into my book.
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| Honestly thought this might be our boat for a while reading his T-shirt |
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| Phew - we got a real one, next stop Cambodia! |
We filled in our Cambodian immigration forms and handed over our passports and cash (including the mandatory additional dollars for the boat crew and the border guards (bloody scammers) and the boat pulled into a little pontoon to stamp out of Vietnam. We dumped our dong here (Paul H before you comment, dumping dong is not a euphemism for going for a poo...) and changed it for dollars and hopped back aboard the boat on to Cambodian immigration. Another pontoon where we unloaded and our passports were dished back out for us to pass through immigration, a window with a bored looking guy who stamped the passport and forms no less than 6 times each- unnecessary! back in the boat and welcome to Cambodia!
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