Blogs from Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 6

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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 January 17th 2018

Worst night’s sleep EVER! For me, at least, Sam was oblivious and passed out unconscious. Maybe I should have had more cocktails. The cute restaurant opposite the hotel is now another trashy bar, in fact there are a whole line of them, catering to a specific type of clientele. Even the side rooms at the hotel are not exempt from the noise now. Earplugs didn’t even take the edge off it. At 4am it stopped but then the vendors on their bikes, some with loudspeakers, were up and down the alley selling thugs we didn’t want. If we come here again we won’t stay on this street, it has changed such a lot. Sad face! Awake at 6.30,at breakfast at 7.30 feeling non too special. The breakfast was very good, large array of cooked items and ... read more
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 View from window
Free stuff.

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 January 16th 2018

So our bargain BA direct flight to Singapore, which we were quite excited about, despite it costing £100 more than our last year’s long haul, turned out to be a bit of a trial. Sam and I were on different bookings as a our return day dates are different, so we were on the phone to each other as soon as check in opened. The plane was a huge one with a big upstairs which also had economy seating, so we were hopeful of getting a row of 2 seats at the side without having to pay £60 extra for them. To our disappointment there were only about 5 seats free to change to on the entire plane, up and down, and as Sam was entering her API they were popping off the screen like balloons ... read more
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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City January 8th 2018

Our next stop in Vietnam was Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City. The name was originally Saigon, but officially changed to Ho Chi Minh City after the ‘war.’ Locals still call it Saigon, though. There were a lot more tourists here than our last trip in 2006. The population has increased from 6,230,900 in 2005 to 8.5 million in 2016, with an estimated 8.76 million in 2017; one of the fastest growing cities in the world. There are 3900 people per square kilometer (populationof2017.com); that works out to about 10,000 people per square mile. There are construction zones and cranes all over the place, and skyscrapers, which we had never seen here before. Back to the sweltering heat. Lonely Planet calls Saigon “Vietnam at its most dizzying: a high-octane city of commerce and culture that has ... read more
Traffic
Traffic
Street scene

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City December 24th 2017

Nha Trang and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) After another bumpier overnight train (no late night party drinking this time)we arrived at the coastal town of Nha Trang. Duc had said Nha Trang is full of Russian tourists and he wasn't wrong. Shops and tourist agencies had Russian translations on everything, there were even Russian tour agencies. As we got there early in the morning we went for coffee at Cong Caphe (which was communist themed) which was delicious and had croissants from the bakery next door. Afterward a group of us took a taxi to the Po Nahar temple which is a temple of the Cham people, an ethnic minority in Vietnam. This sandstone series of temples is inspired by Hinduism and has reliefs of different gods. It was interesting to see, as well as ... read more
Nha Trang
Climbing in the tunnel opening
One of the many Cu Chi tunnels

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City December 9th 2017

A later start & easily the hottest day to date. The riding part of the day was a repeat 40 km morning ride and a 20 km afternoon ride. Lunch split the rides & was a delicious vegetarian hotspot at a Buddhist temple. The whole day was easy riding and mainly followed the coast although being the last ride together for this tour the afternoon ride turned into a fast sprint. The group has been one of the most harmonious I've ever been on with a lot of fun memories. After riding we transferred to our bus for the final few hours into the bustling metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and a final group dinner at Koto restaurant ( a hospitality training school for disadvantaged & at-risk youth in Vietnam). The city was previously ... read more
Dragon Fruit plantation
Dragon Fruit plantation
Happy team on completion

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City November 4th 2017

In the late sixties I was living in Canada and knew several US citizens who had come to live in Canada to escape the draft. In the west we all knew this as the Vietnam War but i find here in Vietnam it is known as the American war. It may be a cliche to say that no one wins in a war and I am sure that holds true for all those on all sides who suffered terribly. My understanding is limited and the situation was obviously extremely complex but recently there has been an excellent 10 episode BBC documentary about the war with much original footage so if you get a chance to view this please do. It seems that at time of the Cold War when the US was trying to stem the ... read more
Hats for sale
Coffee
snack anyone ?

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City October 17th 2017

Hi happy readers Well after a restful sleep it was time to plan our week out. With a couple of tours now booked for mid week we decided today we would do something different. We organised With the front desk to book some Cyclo’s (Rickshaw) for us for the afternoon. We needed one each so they agreed to come collect us as apparently there are some suburbs they are not allowed into I guess due to the heavy traffic. So we had lunch then at 1pm we agreed on a price for 2 hours and off we went a half hour trip one way across the city to the Women’s Museum. After all the war stories and sites we had been to I thought this might show a different side to the local women and how ... read more
Saigon Vietnam
Saigon Vietnam
Saigon Vietnam

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City October 15th 2017

Hi everyone. Well what a last 24 hour we have had. We had to say goodbye to the resort after a great 3 days in Hoi An. We organised a private van and driver who collected us up at midday and drove us north to Da Nang again. We went to the Marble mountain which we had driven past before and seen the glass fronted elevator going up the side and believed we were going up to see the pergoda on the side on the mountain and that the lift was to save more steps. Oh boy were we wrong. Firstly yes you can take the elevator up the first section and walk around to the pergoda which we then found had many old stone steps to get into and out of then behind the pergoda ... read more
marble mountain, Da Nang Vietnam
marble mountain, Da Nang, Vietnam
Marble mountain,Da Nang Vietnam

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City September 3rd 2017

Sorry folks. I wrote the final instalment the night we got back. I was tired, and it seems I didn't hit "Publish." Two days later, I realised that it hadn't gone out, so I put a couple of sentences in at the start to explain and apologise, and apparently (although I'm sure I did), apparently I didn't "publish" it again. So I'm back again, explaining and apologising. The sentences I added at the beginning of that 'final' post don't seem to have been included, maybe because it won't let me lie about the date of writing, I dunno. So that was it. Here is your closure. Peace.... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 29th 2017

Apparently I didn't hit 'Publish' on this. TWICE! Once on the 29th, the day we came come; and once two days later, when I realised it wasn't out there. And now I've found out it still didn't go out. I'm sorry, people. What a way to go out. Here's your closure. So here we are then. Tired; nearly midnight local time, therefore almost 2 in the morning as far as my body is concerned, but not ready for bed. Our last day of leave is tomorrow, so no panic about preparing lessons immediately. This morning was quite calm. I had thought I'd be lying awake, thinking about what needed to be done, and the timing of it all, but no, I slept well and long. We got the futons out airing on the balcony, stuffed a ... read more




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