Blogs from District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 30

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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 May 6th 2011

. . . and then the time came We headed off on our trip with equal parts excitement and trepidation about the next 12mths with the first stop being Kuala Lumpur. It felt like such a long time ago that we decided to put our lives on hold to go and experience as much of the world as we could in the next 12mths. But the time was upon us and as we sat in an AirAsia plane for the first time we were expecting a host of possibilities associated with low-cost carriers, but to our surprise, the whole process from check-in to the in-flight experience to the baggage claim all went without a hitch. The Premium Economy seats were roomy and the food was tastey, served up by a professional team of stewards. Sooooper start ... read more
KL Monument
Ben and Sze's Pool
Dinner at Jalan Alor

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 May 5th 2011

The overnight trip from Sihanoukville over into Vietnam was maybe not the smoothest what with yet another extremely bumpy tuk tuk ride, 2 bus changes, passport and immigration control but we eventually made it to Saigon early Monday morning. We checked into a lovely little hotel which included breakfast, dinner and as much tea, coffee, juice or fruit as you could possibly want before going out to see the city. We ambled around a bit, weaving our way through the rather incredible scooter traffic and noticed something which made us feel like road experts - locals now use us as "shields" or leaders when crossing the road and not the other way round! Walking around also means ignoring the scooters that follow you onto the pavement and drive alongside you to try to offer you a ... read more
Pho!
Market
Enough rice?

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 30th 2011

Ho chi Minh or Saigon to anyone other than tourists is the former capital of South Vietnam and now the biggest city in the country. We arrived on reunification day, when back in 1975 Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese army. This therefore meant we were treated to an assault on our senses as we entered the city. I thought Hanoi had a lot of scooters but I have never seen so many squashed onto the streets as we did that night, I know it's a cliche but you really have to see it to believe it. I'm now convinced Vietnam has 90% of the worlds scooters. The best way I can describe it is, if you imagine everyone using public transport in London on a Monday morning and give them a scooter you get an ... read more
Complusary purchase in Saigon
Enjoying the street food
The Presedential Palace

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 29th 2011

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m back.. After months and months of Mum ranting on about “this booked for Vietnam” and “that’s what we’re doing in Vietnam” and “what do you think we should do in Vietnam?”, the time came to leave for the Gold Coast to catch our flight. 3pm came and went as Cammy worked feverishly to get his assignment done before the library closed. We probably should have known it wouldn’t be done by 3, but no complaints here; I was suffering from a hideous hangover thanks to the girls, Rics, Woodland Bar, and tequila shots. So the valley of death was avoided, and 4 hours later the car was finally packed and off we went. We got on the plane at some ridiculously early hour and in our first 12 hours of travel I ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 24th 2011

Easter Sunday morning saw me going like a good girl to Notre Dame (yes I am in Vietnam and not Paris). The place was rammed which was reassuring. The choir was bloody awful. Soul sorted, I decided to devote the rest of the day to my body and spent the afternoon being massaged and having facials which was utterly blissful. I have noticed however a tendency for me to fall into sort of lucid dozing at any opportunity. Sometimes when I wake up I have the uncomfortable feeling I have been making undignified grunting noises or sleeping with my mouth open. But probably not. The massage and facial were blissful. Like I'd died and gone to heaven. Actually I did wonder at one point if I really HAD fallen off the perch and been fast tracked ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 23rd 2011

Last entry from Vietnam. We'll be hopping into a cab for the airport in about 20 minutes to start the long return journey home. Its about 3:30 pm there right now so we should be back after about 27 hours of car, plane and layover. See you all bright and early on Monday morning!... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 23rd 2011

We shall gloss over 15 hours on a plane, sitting in front of an obese man whose snoring made me want to punch him repeatedly in the face. Mind you, I'd have had to have joined the queue. His every blissful snooze sounded like a particularly perniciousdeath rattle - you could practically hear the sucking vaccuum in his sinuses. His wife sat next to him with a peculiarly fixed expression on her face. He was also, unfortunately, clearly a person who has no trouble sleeping on planes as he slept deeply, joyfully and noisily whenever we weren't eating. I shall also draw a curtain over eating a curry at what was 4am UK time, 7am Doha time, and who knows Saigon time. I was a broken woman by the time I reached Saigon. (ooh - time ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 21st 2011

Siem Reap A power outage at the hotel mid afternoon meant no air-con, and therefore, we figured we might as well go down to the bar, where at least there was cold beer to drink. We were not alone with this thought, and met some Australian travellers, who we on their way to Hanoi. This presented an opportunity to sound like knew what we were talking about, and share our own knowledge of the city from last October’s trip – as it turns out, we had plenty to share (well, about 4 beer’s worth!). As this was our final full day in Cambodia, we explored Siem Reap’s markets. The Night Market in particular was a surprise – it was a sea of colour, packed with stall after stall selling clothing, accessories, jewellery and plenty of stuff ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 20th 2011

Heading to Mui ne after all. The weather changed so we'll head over for just one night (arrrrrrgh! more bus rides!) and then back to HCMC to pack up and head out. The beach looks beautiful but its going to be the most expensive night of the trip to stay there. Time to pack up again for an early start. Not sure if we'll post from there ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 19th 2011

Hi again, we just got back to Ho Chi Minh City from 2 days on the Mekong (with an overnight 'homestay' that is really sort of a Vietnamese bed and breakfast). Internet connectivity was unavailable down there and also at our hotel tonight so I'll try to post more with photos tomorrow when we have a chance (at an internet cafe right now). The Mekong was a really pleasant surprise and the kids both actually ate the local food (elephant ear fish and spring-rolls we made ourselves at the table) but we have all burnt out on riding the buses to see the sights (about 4.5 hours return today). Also, the weather at the beach (and here in the city as well) calls for rain the next few days so we have decided to punt on ... read more




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