Blogs from District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 3

Once my Visa became valid to enter Vietnam I made a beeline for the border at the Ha Tien border crossing. The journey was about an hour and a half away from Kampot and cost me $7 for the pleasure. Once at the border the immigration was painless as my Visa was already in my passport. Stamp out, stamp in - easy. So in Ha Tien I had to make a decision of where to go next. I wanted to spend a couple of days in the Mekong Delta (the fertile plain of numerous islands, rice fields, and waterways before the mighty river spills into the South China Sea) and decided to hop another bus bound for Can Tho ($10). This journey took about six hours. Slow going here in The Nam. In Can Tho I ... read more

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning till about 7:30/8 and then went downstairs for the super huge buffet breakfast, which was an amazing assortment of anything you might possibly want for breakfast. We then caught the hotel bus (which comes every hour or so) into the main part of the city near the opera house. As the bus was packed, we had to sit in the front seat next to the driver, that was not great as I got a close up view of the mayhem. We saw a couple of accidents on the way but only minor bingles. I honestly don’t know how they don’t have more accidents, nothing I can say can possibly describe the craziness of their roads. Brad and I have become quite confident at crossing the roads, ... read more

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year celebrations. Christmas was in Hue and then the group travelled down to Mui Ne for New Year, and we are now in Saigon. Mui Ne is a beach resort and a centre for Kite Surfing - great spectator sport and looked exhausting. Not on my agenda at all! We did manage a half day excursion by (ancient Russian) Jeep with a slightly manic driver - hey if you want to turn left off a dual carriageway why go all the way to the next junction and turn back when you can drive the wrong way down the road against the oncoming traffic and take your turning. And what are red lights for - very pretty but they don't mean anything do they? Phew. There are some t-shirts ... read more

At 6:30am I left the party hostel and went to my next location. This second hostel in Ho Chi Minh was called Saigon Charming Hostel and for good reason. It was a much needed upgrade for me. I soon made friends with Taht, who worked there and he immediately offered me breakfast, coffee, a towel and friendly advice about the city. More than anything though I just felt comfortable there, with the coy, family feel about it and the sort of people I soon met who were also staying there. Among them a friendly Lithuanian couple, an older French lady, two nice kiwis and another halfie 20 something male like me hailing from New York. The events of the day summed up quick included: Visiting the War Remnants Museum (formerly the American War Crimes Museum) which, ... read more

Our tenth and last day in Vietnam started off slowly. We woke up and showered and faffed then took a wander to a cafe we had seen the day before which had a big vegetarian menu. It was called Albatross travel cafe and I decided to make an exception to my rule of buying only Vietnamese food to order vegan fish and chips. Simply because I had never seen that on any menu anywhere in the world before. The first plate of food they brought me was actual fish and chips - not that I was surprised, mistakes like that are made all the time even when there is no language barrier! They quickly brought me a new one, the 'fish' being tofu wrapped in seaweed and batter. Actually very nice though extremely filling. The rest ... read more