500,000 dong, you gotta be kidding

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Went to the Citadel today (a former Imperial City which was bombed in the war). We decided to go a little crazy and get a cyclo (like a carriage on the fron of a pedal bicycle). I sat on a plank of wood at the back of the seat in the giving birth position and Rob sat in front of me- it was as uncomfy as it sounds but fun at the same time. Stupidly though we made a novice mistake of not agreeing on a price before we got in DOH!! So this guy was spouting things at us and pointing at things as we wheeled along but all I could actually understand were the words 'Ho Chi Minh'. He also seemed to be taking a rather indirect route. Low and behold when we stopped at the Citadel he wanted 500,000 dong for his 'tour'. We virtually laughed out loud at his cheek and explained we could hire one for a day for about a quarter of that price and it had only taken him about 15mins. He then said 200,000 so we offered 100,000 and stated this was our best and final offer. After a 10min stand off he took the money. On walking into the Citadel a young Vietnamese guy who'd overheard the conversation said 'Not all Vietnamese are like that. You mustn't think we're all the same.' Bless him.

So the Citadel. There seemed to a lot of work going on in the innermost part of it but that didn't bother us as we were more interested in all the deserted 'secret garden style' gardens. It was so peaceful and quiet which was a welcome relief. We wandered round taking pics and having a seat every so often to take in the views. We got a cyclo back but pre-agreed a price 😊!

Had a little walk around the town and a drink in a backpackers bar. Electricity was off at our GH till 21:30 so we spent much of the evening on the next at the DMZ Hotel which was FREE!!

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