Blogs from Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 11

Decided that today would be another Sunday with a bit of a stroll in the park, a bit of sightseeing and a wander through one or two of the shopping malls. Grabbed a couple of croissants and headed to the park to have a quiet breakfast but was accosted by a couple of guys who wanted to practice English, an Irish junky who wanted to know where to get heroine and wouldn't leave even when I told him I didn't have a clue. Then the touts descended selling sunglasses and all manner of useless crap and the last straw was the hookers who wondered if I wanted a massage with a happy ending. The only bloody happy ending I wanted was to left in peace so I abandoned the park and headed for a shopping mall ... read more

Departure from Singapore without a hitch. Nearly 2 hours flying to Saigon. Even tho it's officially Ho Chi Minh City since 1975 - most people in the "south", young and old, still call it Saigon - the name that the French gave to it. Very quick stop at the Visa on Arrival counter - and then through Passport Control. Now the big test - will I get through Vietnamese Customs X-ray with the health supplements for friends, the daily vitamins/tablets that I take, the diabetes insulin as well as the test strip and needles. The 3 persons manning the X-ray machine were too busy talking with each other, looking at their mobile fones (possible playing pokemon Go) to worry what I had in the bags. Out through the waiting hoards - then decision time. Will I ... read more

Deuxième partie de mon séjournau Vietnam : Saigon (à présent Ho Chi Minh Ville), puis le delta du Mekong. Saigon est, dans d'ambiance, un peu comme Hanoi, mais avec davantage de grandes avenues et des grattes ciels (pour faire bref). Lieux marquants : le musée de la guerre, qui décrit et présente pas mal de photos des horreurs perpétrées par les américains pendant la guerre. Là non plus, on est forcement pas trop dans l'objectivité, mais c'est tout de même très intéressant. Aussi, les tunnels de Cu Chi, galeries dans lesquelles se cachaient les Viet Cong, pas loin de Saigon. Là aussi, la nourriture est remarquable, et différente de celle de Hanoi et de celle de Hoi An. Le delta du Mekong est un endroit propice pour faire des balades en bateaux, voir des marchés flottants, ... read more

Saturday morning was my last in Vietnam, and a hangover wasn't going to stop me from making the most of it. I had purposefully arranged a red-eye out that night so I had the full day, but this meant I'd arrive at 4:30am Sunday in Dubai, with Sunday being the start of the work week. I did manage to arrange for a 2pm checkout, so at least I'd be able to shower after inevitably sweating all morning and be slightly less gross for my flight that night. Around 9:30 I headed down to breakfast for one last amazing Asian buffet, then ran out to get more dongs since I'd be hitting up the market. My hotel had free shuttles to the main market, Ben Thanh, so I arranged for the 10:30 one and had a quick, ... read more

After putting in a few hours or work the first full day I met up with the Regional Director for Southeast Asia for a drink at the hotel bar before our other colleague joined us for dinner. Oddly enough we ended up at a Lebanese place complete with belly dancers and blaring music. It was an outdoor-ish restaurant, which was the style of many restaurants here, a semi-enclosed garden/patio-style place. It had fans blowing but it was still above 90 degrees at at 8:30pm so it wasn't exactly comfortable. We had a bottle of red, some assorted meze, and a mixed grill - all really good, but the meat portion took probably 45 minutes to arrive. I was still somewhat jet-lagged and had also been up since 4am, so once dinner was done I was ready ... read more