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Published: August 6th 2015
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Day 18
Great nights sleep and no rush for breakfast. Croissants today! The other option was Pho (soup and noodles) or hot rice and beef. I just can't face the equivalent of a Chinese meal at 8am in the morning.
We made our way to Notre Dam cathedral 2 mins walk where we were last night and found tourist information. We wanted to book a Mekong river 2 night 3 day trip ending in Phnom Penh but they don't end in PP they come back to Saigon. The guide was very helpful and suggested a tour that was 3 days 2 nights but we don't return, we get a boat to PP. the tour takes us to My Tho enjoying sampan boat rides, pagodas, temples, orchard and beekeeping. Then a boat cruise on the Mekong to visit the famous floating markets. We then visit Cham village; Islamic minority people. We leave the tour at Chau Doc then get a boat to PP. The price showed for 2 and was in budget. Bingo! However when we came to pay it was per person! Ah well we thought it was cheap given the research we'd done. So we paid and I decided
I wouldn't buy a handbag to make up the extra payment! Everything is booked and they pick up is from the hotel.
We then booked the Cu Chi tunnels for tomorrow morning. These were built by the communist VC fighting against South Vietnamese and USA. We took the bus option rather than speed boat - thinking more comfort for Lesley and the boat was more expensive.
Now all booked we decided to go to the zoo and botanical gardens and museum. Everywhere seemed to close at 11.30 - 1pm for lunch so we walked to near the zoo and had a coffee stop ... again. I'm getting used to the iced Vietnamese black coffee. It's really strong but with a bit of sugar it's pleasant.
Lesley and her map reading got us to the zoo no problem. I'd prepared myself for the animals and cages to be poorly looked after, but it wasn't like that at all. The animals seemed well cared for and
their environment was no different to what you'd expect at a UK zoo. There were topiary gardens which were lovely. Just outside the zoo was a history museum that showed artifacts from 5th
century onwards. Each room took you through the different ages. It was very interesting although many of the coins and weapons looked like those in the armouries in Leeds.
We were flagging a bit. It was very humid and we'd walked a long way. I'd say each day we sight - see we must be walking over 4 miles. Time for tea..... We stopped at Le Cafe de la Poste. It's next to the beautiful famous post office. My favourite tea at the moment is either jasmine or artichoke either hot or iced. We had a portion of garlic bread to share to take off the hunger edge as we both want to eat later but are tired and need to refuel.
We walked down to the harbour, this time turning right to where we'd seen large tourist sailing ships. The road is like a double motorway and no traffic stops at the zebra crossing. We waited for a some locals to cross and followed them. It was so scary. Having crossed hell road, the boats weren't there they were much further down - too far to walk. Oh no, we had to turn around and
cross the
road again! I freaked a bit and Lesley had to talk me through it. We're not going down there tomorrow!
So many eating places ... we went to the same place as last night! It was nice and very central for people watching! More lightening again but thankfully the rain never came.
Just as an aside - each night I seem to have a fly swoop up my nose! Lesley actually saw it. She thinks my nostrils are so big I Hoover them in, gross!
We had a lovely meal again and walked up the pedestrian strip. The pavement fountains came on and were lit up. The police blew whistles and stopped children running into them. I think they would be better placed directing the traffic at the harbour!
We were out for 12 hours solid today. But enjoyed the day. Shower and bed. Looking forward to the Cu Chi tunnels tomorrow.
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