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Published: February 24th 2009
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Ho Chi Minh city formerly known as Saigon is the busiest place ..EVER!
8 Million people live here and 7 million of them own motorbikes.. so you can guess how difficult it was crossing the road!
The City is really different from Hanoi in the north and feels like it should be the capital hosting skyscrapers, large neon flashing lights and it bustling population all eager to be the next Richard Branson.
We checked into the highly rated Madame Cuc's guesthouse (sounds dodgy but its all above board!) The owner has a chain of three and we got told the main place was full and moved across the road which led down a back alley. After feeling happy with the room (more later) we headed out into the city to find some grub.
Our digs were just around the corner from the main backpacker area called Phan Ngu Lao and at first glance looked very similar to Khoa san road in Thailand. Street sellers were cooking up a brew and shouting for your business, bars were packed with new arrivals sitting outside on small plastic chairs drinking beer Siagon, incense sticks were plentiful with sweet smells overpowering our
senses as we passed.
Our first night was rubbish, not only due to Derby losing to Man Utd in the cup but Ho Chi Minhs local DJ sat in our room mixing hardcore beats until the early hours. Only that's what its seemed like of course the hotel or in fact our room was next door to a nightclub.. great.
Consequently we spent our first day in HCMC sleep walking the streets, taking some of the city in, and changing accommodation.
Day two, Michelle's birthday and Lee decided to go all out and treat her to a ... wait for it... WALKING TOUR!! Oh yes.. on page 353 of the good old lonely planet for Vietnam it has a planned walking tour along with ice cream and museums!! (Such a great boyfriend!)
We set off bright and early and visited the local market (tack - but we did get some sun cream) took a snap of local hero Tran Nguyen Hai on horseback on the traffic island, next was a stroll to the world famous ice cream people - Fanny (really that's what its called) for some yummy ice cream (see the pics). Next on our
agenda was the war museum which was unfortunately closed. The Vietnamese seem to have very long lunch breaks and close everything. We decided to head to the History museum and stopped off at the Notre Dam Cathedral and rather impressive post office on the way.
When we eventually reached the history museum it was 'closed for lunch so out of character and in sheer desperation for a reward for our 5 mile hike we visited the zoo next door!.. which turned out to be a good choice. We had a lot of fun, there wasn't much to see but we had a natter with the monkeys and a stare out with the lizards which was challenging.
We did eventually get into the history museum only to be rather disappointed with various rocks and artifacts that we were too tired to be interested in. Although we did find one thing of interest. A Tomb that was found in 1994 by builders. Buried in 1869 the body had been preserved in embalming fluid and she was still in good shape...considering the old dear is 200 odd years old.
We spent our last day visiting the Cu Chi tunnels. These
underground tunnels were used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam war with the Americans, and is claimed that were key in the eventual withdrawal of the US army. The tunnels at some points were up to 5 metres deep and were used as army posts and living quarters. The guide showed us some techniques the Vietcong used to hide their tracks as well as traps to kill the enemy, such as putting US army clothes on top off entry doors to stop sniffer dogs smelling the Vietcong and trapdoors in the ground with sharp spikes the enemy fell onto (see pic) Overall a great day out and a very interesting tour.
Vietnam has so many different things going on. At each stop we felt like we were in a different country. Dalat in the highlands, Nha trang the beach capital, Hanoi and the old quarter, Saigon with its western feel, but overall definitely our favourite country so far.
One last location to go... and after such a long trip down on the buses we decided a reward was due.. and are heading off to Phu Quoc island (Vietnam's crown jewel..apparently!!) for a week on the beach.
Lee
and Michelle
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Louise
non-member comment
Looks fab!!! Not so sure about the dead animals though little scary!! Lots of love Looby Lou xxxx