Blogs from District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 12

Mui Ne is basically a gorgeous little holiday town. They've built right up to the beach, leaving just enough space to walk down and watch the insane number of wind and kite surfers. We hired a kayak and attempted to paddle against the current - knackering! Loved it. Our hotel had a pool which was awesome, gonna miss how much you get for your money in Vietnam! Food still ridiculously cheap as well! And we've got used to the fact that meals never arrive at the same time.. Haha. Before heading to the capital we did a Thai cooking class.. Ended up being the only 1s on it! Went to the market to have some free samples and spent the next 2 hrs making pancakes, spring rolls, beef noodle soup, salads and sauces. Good day! On ... read more

Uncle Bao, who lives in Saigon took me to this nice little place for some Chả Cá Lã Vọng. Chả Cá Lã Vọng is a Northern Vietnamese fish dish sautéed with dill and turmeric. We hopped on his scooter (Vespa-ish) and whizzed through the streets of Saigon. I rode bitch and it wasn't my first time doing so. In this part of the world, people don't really give a fuck about another person's sexual orientation. Based on my observation, Vietnam is not homophobic like most places in the U.S. Two men on a motorbike is a common thing. I wanted to test his comfort level, so I wrapped my arms around his waist intimately. I could sense he was uncomfortable, which made it funny to me. Anyways, we made our way through traffic and arrived at ... read more

Xin Jow! Ho Chi Minh City is a vibrant, busy city. In comparison to Bangkok and Phnom Penh it seems cleaner. There doesn't seem to be as many cars and bikes parked on the pavements. Rarely we have to walk on the road to get anywhere which is nice! Ho Chi Minh is also known as Saigon. Saigon is the old name of the city and is still the official name for the city centre. The name Ho Chi Minh comes from the man, Ho Chi Minh, who was the leader of a party that fought for Independence from the French ruling. Our first day in Ho Chi Minh, we decided to have an easy day as we had a lot of super early mornings the days previous. When we finally got up, we had a ... read more

Tuesday 1st October 2013 Free day today so had a very leisurely start. Headed off to Notre Dame Cathedral. Built in 1888 with materials shipped from France. Very simple interior compared to a lot of churches, a lot of the stained glass windows were destroyed in WWII and have never been replaced. To the right of the cathedral is the impressive French-style Central Post Office, built between 1886 and 1891. Painted on the walls of its grand concourse are fascinating historic maps of South Vietnam, Saigon and Cholon. A mosaic of Ho Chi Minh takes pride of place on the far wall as he does in most buildings. It is still a Post office today with a big tourist shop in the middle. It is a lovely building. It was so humid today though which kind ... read more

First day in Ho Chi Minh. We left Perth at 1.35 am and flew to Kuala Lumpur, 2 hour stop over and then a 2 hour flight to Vietnam. Had a lovely cuppa and croissant at Harrods in KL airport, nice way to start the day. Shared a table with a man from Manila, who lives in Canada and is in Vietnam for work. Oh well we are just tourists from Perth! When we arrived at the airport in Ho Chi Minh it took quite a while to get our visa through, all these people were called before us that arrived after us. The lady at Warwick Post Office who took my Visa photos wouldn't let me smile so I looked like and angry criminal! Mark is sure that is what the hold up was. Finally ... read more