Blogs from District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 5

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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 May 3rd 2016

Celebrating one's 30th 3 nights in a row and then embarking upon a ~22 hour journey in the sky is not highly recommended, but hey, you only turn 30 once. Sunday morning I was out of bed by 9 after already oversleeping to frantically throw more things into my mostly-packed suitcases and head to Logan for my 11:55 flight. It was gonna be a doozy - 12 hr 40 min to Dubai, then 7 hr 30 min to Ho Chi Minh City. I was flying Emirates for the first time, so I knew it wouldn't be truly nightmare-ish based on the qualify of the airline, but realistically i spent that first 12 hours drifting in and out of consciousness and turning away drinks from the over-attentive flight attendance. The flight was surprisingly empty and I had ... read more
Sofitel breakfast buffet
Working from the rooftop pool
Saigon Central Post Office

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 30th 2016

PHU MY, VIETNAM - 26th March Vietnam's seaside resort is the gateway to the city of Ho Chin Minh formerly known as and still called in most circles Saigon. Saigon is located on the river near the Mekong Delta, it was formerly in French hands and became known as the "Paris of the East" with many fine examples of French colonial architecture. It's now about 90 minutes from the port to the city thanks to a new motorway which keeps the hordes of motorbikes at bay, so it was a quick trip into the city with the first port of call being the Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral. The General Post Office with its huge picture of Ho Chi Minh was built at a similar time as the Cathedral (1870's). The Cathedral is a ... read more
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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 18th 2016

So birthday boy is 54 today and we are at HCM airport about to board for Phu Quoc - beach bday bungalow awaits! We have had a wonderful couple of days in Saigon - feel blessed to have experienced such simplicity amongst craziness! Cyclotour was a great way to explore the City! From perfumed flower market to fresh stripped sugar cane on the sides of the roads. We lit a candle and said a prayer at Notre Dame Cathedral for our beautiful niece, Clementine and thanked God for her safe and happy arrival on 16th April at 12.19 pm (6.19 pm V time)! Had a wonderful full body massage for £3 and snored my head off! Being called to board shortly, so sending our love & blessings to all from Vietnam, until our next blog..... xx ... read more
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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 18th 2016

Not too early flight from Melbourne 10.30a.m., 8 1/2 hr flight, first international flight with Vietnam Airlines (last time we flew from Bali and on Malaysian) and were impressed, their service was great, food very good and plenty of leg room. Arrived Ho Chi Minh 4.10p.m. (7.10p.m home). 36 degrees hot hot hot!! Aircraft out in the middle of the paddock, bused to terminal but exit was pretty smooth and our little driver was waiting for us from the Beautiful 3 Hotel...took a cheapy for the first 2 nights before flying up for our luxury escape near Danang to the Angsana Resort at Lang Co. Beautiful 3 hotel..quite impressed for a $45 a night price tag for the two of us including buffet breaky...excellent! Very clean and everything you need and it is situated in the ... read more
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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 April 16th 2016

So, we have arrived safe and learned on our transit via Bangkok that Cupcake is making some rumblings! Must rush, fresh shower at hotel, bowl of noodles & a cool Tiger Beer are calling, then time to explore HCM! xx... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 March 31st 2016

Voici donc qq nouvelles de notre petite famille ! Super vol avec Emirates, vraiment une bonne compagnie! aucun retard, ni imprévu avec 15 heures de vol, à notre disposition environ 500 films, des jeux vidéo et des cadeaux pour Lola ! Que du bonheur ! Arrivés à l'aéroport, nous avons pris un taxi pour notre hôtel et avons pu gouter à un avant-gout d'OCM : des centaines de scooters partout, des hommes des femmes des familles entières sur leur scooter : c'est la jungle ! Il fait encore 30° à 20h. On va avoir chaud !! Notre hôtel est un epu excentré mais a l'avantage d'etre au calme. Nous sommes au 7ème étage d'unegrande tour. C'est en fait un appartement avec 2 chambres (mais une seule nous est réservée). L'accueil est trés sympa et nous recommande ... read more
Du scoot du scoot du scoot
Musée de la guerre
Cathedrale Notre Dame

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 February 29th 2016

It’s only 4 weeks since we were freezing our wotsit’s off in Outer Mongolia, today in Saigon we are sweltering in the mid 90’s F, even got our shorts on! Boy, did we make a mistake getting here? As we'd had a good experience getting the night bus to Hoi An, we thought we would give it another go. Armed with a couple of books and a downloaded film, we took the 22-hour bus ride from Hoi An to Saigon. First thing was that the bus wasn’t up to the previous standard with broken and ripped seats. We worried also there was no emergency exit and all the emergency hammers for breaking windows for evacuation were missing. We were delayed while 5 motorcycles were dismantled for carriage with luggage below. The more we neared Saigon the ... read more
On a rick shaw
Cu chi tunnel
night bus

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 February 29th 2016

On the plane from Phu Quoc, to my horror and then relief, the guy who sat next to me was the terrible singer (Scandinavian, not Russian, as it turns out) who kept us awake the other night on his bungalow verandah. Soooooo relieved I didn't go out and complain, and that they were quiet last night! or Gill would have. How relaxing would that have been, oopsie, especially as they sat near us at breakfast. Sometimes it is just better to ride it out and hope they pass out eventually! Our case was second off the plane. The Swedish family in front of us had admitted they had fish sauce in their bag and had had to unpack and hand it in At Phu Quoc. So much for it being OK on Jetstar, tour guide Harry! ... read more
She made us drink up and go, even though the restaurant was empty
Sweet shop on a scooter!
There he is!

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 February 23rd 2016

This was my second trip to the tunnels in 3 weeks, same company, TNK Travel. I've used them on every visit to Vietnam. This time I have so not been impressed! It would seem that a very good question to ask is how many people will there be. In the past I went on a minibus, small group, good fun. This time it was a huge coach, about 30 of us and it was far too many. Also, we made an unnecessary rest stop after 1 1/2 hours, nobody wanted it, and the sole purpose was to herd us through a workshop where disabled people were making lacquerware and stuff out of eggshells, huge sales room, nobody bought anything except for fruit shakes, a total waste of half an hour. So we got to the tunnels ... read more
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Gill did 20m through a tunnel
The Chill Bar

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 February 21st 2016

Today the plan was: War Remnants Museum, try to buy Water Puppet tickets, lunch with Harry, Eden Spa for nails and leg massage, XO night tour of the city. We got motorbikes over to the museum, 30,000 each. Gills driver's head attire consisted of a baseball cap with a cycle helmet on top. 15,000 for us to go in and 2000/5000 for Vietnamese (I forget which) - I should think so too, it should be free for them. It was my 3rd visit but it doesn't get any easier, all those harrowing photos. I must read about the history more, so it is more meaningful and put into context. Must say, I sort of admire the Americans who certainly come away with a negative opinion of them, although of course there were very many opposed to ... read more
Relieved to find a photo of British resistance to the war
School party, very young to see such graffiti photos. Hope they don't have nightmares!
Stasistics about the murder of villagers, by someone who went on to be a US Senator!




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