Good Afternoon Vietnam!

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We didn't arrive in Ho Chi Minh (formerly known as Saigon) until 2pm hence the title!

We had booked the Mekong Express Bus which left Phnom Penh at 7am..however we had to be ready at 5.50am for the van to pick us up and take us to the bus station! I must confess that both James and I were happy to leave Phnom Penh, we were getting quite bored.

The journey took about 7 hours in all, including the time taken to get off for the Cambodian border control and then for the Vietnamese passport control where we also had to take our bags off for x-ray security. But there were no problems and the journey was a good one..it felt more like a tour as the "attendant" kept speaking on the microphone and giving us the details of the areas we would pass and so on!

We got off the bus at the backpackers area, around De Tham Road. It reminded us of Khao San Road but a much nicer, less touristy area. We stopped at the Go 2 bar to have a drink and work out where we were...realised we weren't far from a place we had found on the Internet....this was closed (permanently?) and as we walked around a lady was saying I have a room for 10 US dollars. We decided to have a look and went with it..it has air con, TV, wardrobe and even a fridge! All for a fiver...the standards keep getting raised. This is probably one of the cheapest we have stayed in but one of the nicest! The name of this place is Q Cafe.

We had a bit of a rest as we were tired from the early start..we went out later, collected some leaflets on tours we could do (or not do! The leaflets are a good source of what the sites are - the tours are crap) and then had a really nice meal in one of the cafes just watching people go by, where we also tried traditional Vietnamese coffee...a little strong for me! There are a lot of immitation art shops here and we may even buy one of these..if we can send it home that is.

As we wandered around, we both felt that we were gonna like it here...it has a real character, although it does have touristy places, it has not impacted on the city as much as, say, it has on Bangkok.

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Photos

Before the Border
On the bus from Phenom Penh to Ho Chi Minh, just before the Vietnamese Border.

At Border
First Impressions of Vietnam are very good. Clean & Tidy, Modern buildings.

De Tham Road, HCMC
As close as you'll get to Bangkok's Khoa San Road in Ho Chi Minh City. It has everythin Khoa San has, minus its brash, crass & overbearing aspects (e.g. think minus Costa Del Sol).
Nice relaxed place - we liked it a lot.

Tourist Offices
Everywhere you go in SE Asia has tourist offices offering trips where you are herded like sheep from one 'site' to another via long souless stints in cramped buses.
HCMC is no exception.

Vietnamese Coffee
Very very very Strong. Having worked for an Italian company and spent a bit of time out at Italian sites with Italians drinking Italian coffee - I can tell you - that yes this coffee is officially 'strong'.
Its usually served with 'Sweet Milk' (or often 'sweat milk' in some of the menus!).

Vietnamese Coffee Filter
A Vietnamese filter is a small coffee pot. It looks like a hat and sits upon the top of a coffee cup. Inside is a chamber for coffee and room for hot water. It is very basic and simple (no filter paper), and works!