Blogs from District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 36

My now pretty much annual autumn trip to escape a cold, dark, wet November London this time took me to Vietnam for a couple of weeks, with an layover in Hong Kong. It also meant being on a proper airline for the first time in a couple of years! Its amazing how being served a meal with alcohol and having plenty of legroom improves your mood! I only had a day and a half in hong Kong, so just time to get a feel. I was staying in a guesthouse in the (in)famous Chungking Mansions, an enormous building containing literally hundreds of identikit guesthouses. With space at such a premium in Hong Kong, these tiny en-suite rooms offer some of the cheapest accommodation available, especially considering their amazing location right in the heart of Kowloon. However, ... read more

After my last blog... we did a tour of Mue Ni which was mostly sand dune sledging and sunset watching, which was very nice. We also had a group of pretty cool people, 2 of which had just done the Philippines like us and another 2 that are doing pretty much the same route as us but backwards to it was cool to hear about where they had been and what to expect. The next day, we headed in-land to the central highlands and Da Lat. a 4 hour coach journey that probably in the history of my life didnt see me falling asleep..not least because i could see how the driver was driving on the hairpin bends with drops either side. We got there safe and sound though, only to be greeted with a weeks ... read more

So- after three connecting flights, Toy Stoory 3 (I laughed and cried through), Old Poetry Society, broken sleep classical chillout music and 5 curries later- Colette and I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City- as the ONLY white as ONLY packpackers at the airport. We got the bus to the city (determined not to get ripped off, but still got charged 15,000 instead of 3,000 Dong!? (like 50p instead of 10p) BASTARDS. Ho Chi Minh Tues: I was sweating like a beast and struggling with my backpack, and cloth bag (which has broken twice) travel pillow and 1000 page book! Then as we got off the bus (with help of locals) the SKY opened. So walking with Cols lonley planet in hand trekked the backstreets of Saignons backpacker district and finally found our random tiny guesthouse, ... read more

Kim, Coung and I got up early and headed out for Banh Xeo at Bahn Xeo 44A. At first we thought it was closing down but we must have been the first ones at the shop. It took a while to get our food but again they were just setting up shop. We each had their specialty, which a is a thinner and crispier version of the bahn xeo I have had in the viet shops back at the states. The taste was good but a little greasy for me. Well fed we headed to the War museum. Interesting to say the least. We were at the museum for at least 2.5 hour. Kim had a hard time viewing all the photos. We left when they kicked us out for lunch. FYI to anyone the museum ... read more

So, I'm a month behind on the ol' blog and my only excuse is that I have been in the best country of my trip thus far; Vietnam. (I think anyway. I do change my mind between here and Thailand.) When I first set out for my trip, I knew that it was going to be a cool country to visit. I expected a culture shock and as the history of the war is still relatively recent, expected the country to display a strong sense of patriotism and exhibit various interpretations of the historical events. I couldn't really be prepared for how much I would enjoy being here though. I admittedly knew little about the war before entering the country but with the help of various sources (many which have to be taken with a huge ... read more