Advertisement
Published: October 15th 2006
Edit Blog Post
So we finally left Hanoi and all borded our 3 day delayed, $78, 2 hour plane ride to HCMC/Saigon in further exploration to find new people to meet, more places to get drunk and different beer to taste.
The 5 of us went with daves lovely travel guide book and chose a nice little hotel that was just outside the main center of HCMC. Big mistake. It just so happend that it was a building site next door and they forgot to say to us they start daily at 6am, hence cutting the power to the hotel which meant no fan/aircon and no TV. needless to say, we scampered the next morning and moved to possibly the best hotel we have stayed in. not because it was extra comfy or anything, the staff were extemely friendly and would do literally anything for you. free brekkie and dinner, booked tours for us and were just really nice. so hear is to HOTEL 64 Madame Cuc. to anyone that reads this who might be going to Saigon.
As previously i think ive babbled on way to much about nights out and stuff like that (which is fair to say that it
does take up alot of our time) i will just leave it to pics and a few stories instead of mindless dribble.
The first day we got there we decided to go and see what was probably the sole reason alot of people go to HCMC for, the Cu Chi Tunnels. 250km of underground tunneling built by the the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. We had a brief tour of the whole site including us going into the tunnels which was probably the worst most hottest place ever. being a big lad, it wasnt the most comfortable place in the world, they made you crawl along small corridors built to protect people from the invading US Soldiers. How on earth people actually lived in this place was beyond me as after 10 mins i couldnt wait to get out and breath real air. Saying that, the others seemed to like it and when the opportunity came to go down a really small whole, the guide advised me and dave dont bother trying as we simply wouldnt fit. i slight bit insulting as if i breathed in i rekon i could have done it...
It was a very interesting trip
tho and well worth it just to see what people had to live in during the war. After a hectic day, we spent the evening checking out the local drinking holes, consuming far to much Long Island Iced Teas and getting fleeced by some local pool sharks. Home by 5am, it was a good day/night.
October 4th: MY BDAY!!!! What a place to spend my 23rd bday. Just me dave and James were around for it, was kind of nice just being the original 3 after spending the last 2 weeks with Matt and James aswell but they were sadly missed for a day that included 2 birthday cakes (daves and james cake wins hands down anyday of the week) drinking beer for breakfast, walking around a lovely market and drinking solid pretty much all day and night. day time drinking spells disaster as hit the rum and cokes hard, played alot of darts in a bar callled Eden (hello to Phong aswell, nices vietnamese waitress ever: free shots and cocktails for the bday boy) and were home by 12am!! The bar played happy bday music for me, everyone was shaking my hand and the hotel also bought
me a wicked birthday cake, with my name and DOB on and everything! thats why it was the best hotel ever. was good to spend it in a completely different country and was a top day from what i remember. saying that, mum dad matt and everyone else were missed and i will be looking forward to celebrating again back home.
Kirsty and Nicola arrived from Hanoi the next day so appart from being extremely hungover, and waking up covered in birthday cake from our drunken brawl the night before, it was a guranteed right off day and the furthest we ventured out was to get lunch over the road. But being my birthday, i wanted to carry on so i made sure us 3 and the girls went out again, this time to a well fancy and expensive (take 1,500,000 VND for a bill (only about 50 pounds but thats loads) restaurant called Maxims. After all the hype, i tried lobster and was a little disapointed as they gave me vietnamese lobster which isnt as big. still well nice tho. if this restauant was in england tho, it wound be easily 60 pounds a head as it had
live piano and cello players, silver service and was generally the nicest place ive eaten. we felt a bit out of depth but i figured considering the occasion, it was worth it!
Since then we have spend alot of time drinking, went to the War Museum and saw some pretty horrible stuff about some of the stuff which actually went on with the prisoners and the methods of torture, very interesting all the same tho and yes dad, i did try dog meat. It tastes pretty much the same as pork only loads more fattier. when i went up to buy it they kept asking me if i was sure i wanted it as i was the only westerner they had seen that wanted to try it. we all tried and it was alright!!
The bar we spent most of our time drinking in was called Go2, wicked thai curries and the barman called Wan, a villa supporter that we got chatting to and were lucky enough to be invited to go and play football in the Saigon Football stadium with a load of locals and some really good lads we got chatting to in the same bar
dead babies
these are dead baby feotus's as a result of the US using Orange Bombs on local people. they were on display in the War Museum. Lovely eh? called Danny (Nicola took and extra liking to him) Ben and Charlie. 2 40min halfs later, we won 11-9, dave didnt play cuz of his ankle, James scored a couple and i scored a couple. it was the first time i had played football since uni and it was class to play in a stadium that holds around 16000 people. i forgot to take my camera as i thought it was just going to be a kick about in a park, not Vietnam vs England in a stadium. little bit gutted but never mind, it was ace and well glad we got the chance to do it.
After spending just under a week in HCMC, we all fancied a quite excursion to near by beach, Muine. It was very reminiscent of the kind of place you would go on a honey moon as there were couples everywhere, no travelers to be seen and lovely appartment bungelows and possibly the comfiest beds ever. the beach was right outside our bungelow, we bought a football, went swimming, dug a hole and put paz in it, saw some sand dunes, went sleding, saw a canyon and went to another nice fresh seafood
me in a guillotean
i thought it would be funny to lie in a real killing machine and actually sit where people have had their heads chopped off. yes the blade was still hanging above my neck and yes it was quite scary. sorry mum...you would have hated it. ask kirsty!! restaurant and aite the biggest garlic BBQ king Tiger Prawns. very nice they were.
I will let the pics do the talking anyway as i dont really no what else to say about the place. we felt out of place again either way but didnt really care as it was so relaxing and a welcome change from being in busy cities and towns.
After 3 days in Muine, it was back to HCMC for one last piss up, one last meal in Go2 bar, and one last dance with the black guys. again see photos! Kirsty and Nicola stayed in but the dutch girls that we have been meeting up with were here so it was a good night of drinking and dancing.
So that was it for another city, next up is Cambodia. Well looking forward to going somewhere different now as i spent quite a while around HCMC. Cambodia includes shooting AK-47s, Magnums and going to see Angkor Wat, one of the 7 wonders of the world so it should be fun...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0401s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sam Edwards
Sam Edwards
Great blog mate. Dave and his dance off rivals and Paz's STA brochure cover shot are brilliant. As for my copyright image, its just the same. more sea needed. Keep up the good work, more photos of Nic please. Take it easy Sam x