Ho Chi Minh City

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We were prepared for waits at Ho Chi Minh airport for up to 2 hours to get our visa and were surprised to be out of the airport with Vietnamese Vissa stamped in our passports and money exchanged after approx 30 mins of landing.



Researching what to expect in advance had us very prepared. Many other tourists waiting alongside us had yet to fill in forms, have photos taken or exchange money to US dollars for the visa fee. We had applied for "Visa on arrival". We plonked all the necessary papers and cash on the desk when it was our turn and it took 15 mins to wait for the stamp.



Outside the airport the bright yellow 109 bus was easy to spot. We could ignore all the people trying to get us in their taxis and just wandered over to the bus.



The Trip Advisor site had told me that these buses had been introduced in March 2016 and were air conditioned, modern and comfortable. The bus took us to September 23 Park and the "Backpacker street" near Ben Thanh Markets, which was exactly where we wanted to go.



We paid 20,000 dong, rather than 5,000 which is what the regular buses cost. It was an absolute bargain and extremely easy. Only about a 200 m walk to our accommodation from where we were dropped off, which was the second to last bus stop.



The ticket seller on board the bus was extremely helpful. We managed to avoid dealing with all the potential scams involved with the taxis. Later we learned that many people, even the locals now use the Uber app for transport in the city in preference to taxis.



This description of Ho Chi Minh City does not include any of the typical touristy things that one would normally choose to do in this city. They just weren't priority for us. We just wanted to relax and get a feel for things.





Our home stay was easy to find in a quiet alleyway. On arrival our host, Vy, who was incredibly helpful and kind, great at English (and beautiful) offered us a drink, a map and an overload of local information.



Vy ran the home stay with her parents. The room was shockingly small, but clean, comfortable and air conditioned with a fridge and en suite. Despite lacking luxuries staying here helped us gain confidence to order local street food. Vy would take us to her favorites and help us order with the locals. We now know what and how to order. The local street food vendors rarely rip off tourists and you can eat the best of real Vietnamese sitting on their tiny plastic stools for extremely cheap. Once what they have cooked for the day has sold out they pack it all up and wheel their trollies away.



So what did we do in Ho Chi Minh? Well! Tomas slept a hell of a lot. He said he had months of sleep to catch up on.



On our first day we arrived early and were lucky enough to be given our room well before check in time, at about 11 am. We both slept from about 2 pm until 8.30 pm and then dragged ourselves up to walk in the cool evening to the river. It was relatively quiet except for the occasional night club. Along the river mainly young people were sitting on rugs or small chairs in small groups chatting. We didn't see any alcohol and surprisingly, hardly any one was smoking.



Crossing roads is an issue in Ho Chi Minh City. Some sections of roads are impossible to cross as they are jammed with moving traffic and every vehicle moves at a different rate. You can usually find a section of road that is negotiable not too far off. We started by discretely trailing another person who was crossing and then got the confidence to cross alone. You can't go any where unless you master crossing the street. You need to be very aware of what is coming in every direction. Scooters will be cutting corners across footpaths and also going in opposite directions. cross slowly and watch for each vehicles intentions. They will usually scoot around you if your intentions are clear and they will honk at you if they don't like what they see you are intending to do. There is a huge amount of subtle communication going on from each party. It was a challenge to learn and fun when mastered. We held hands whenever we crossed so that we made ourselves one obstacle, rather than two.



Tuesday Day 2.

I woke at about 4 am and when it was a sensible time went out for a walk. The streets and lane ways were already full of mainly locals, packed with motorbikes and noisy. A buffet breakfast was advertised in the hotel next door and Tomas took no convincing. This time it easy to get him out of bed to drag him out.

It was a lovely hotel and fantastic buffet with exotic fruits, pastries, personalized eggs made to order, Asian and Western food. Great views from the rooftop restaurant on the 15th floor.



I can't remember what we did after that. Tomas probably slept more as I wandered the streets.



In the evening Vy told us that Obama was in town so we went looking for him (not really).



We went for a long but pleasant walk along the screeching, loud streets to Tan Dao Park along Ly Tu Trong to a modern shopping complex- (not our thing but cool and pleasant) then along streets lined with luxurious hotels.



We ended up at a "walking street", I think we were on Nguyen Hue. Loads of activity, colours, lights, fountains and vistas. People on hover boards, blowing bubbles, families, couples. It was a really nice atmosphere with a cool evening breeze and we would have sat there on a bench people watching for a couple of hours before hitting home with a cool evening breeze.



Wednesday Day 3

Vy helped us order some street food noodles for breakfast and banh mi for lunch (vietnamese roll).



I think after that we spent time wandering around Ben Thanh Markets which was overwhelming. Just full of stalls trying to drag every tourist in to sell them stuff. It was a bad experience as I was upset seeing a little boy hitting a puppy that was trying to sleep and getting upset. I couldn't just look away so I told him off.



Then we stupidly, had a meal at the market. It was disappointing that the food sellers tried to put things in front of us that we hadn't ordered to sell more. This market was purely focused on grabbing tourist bucks and I am glad that we learnt early to stay away in future. They leave a bad taste for the country and made us just feel hassled. They are not its best side. We didn't come here to shop anyway. We came with 7 kg packs and we intend to leave with 7 kg packs.



We then wandered along Bui Vien and September 23 Park which was full of activity. Families, big groups, exercising, walking dogs, playing games and doing classes. Again, great atmosphere! I am trying to make a video showing snips of the activity alongside the most crowded street of scooters that we saw. When I manage I will post it here.



Thursday Day 4

We were too embarrassed to tell Vy that we were moving to another place to stay so we just pretended that we were flying out. She had been so nice to us but the room was really too small. Thursday was an extended day in Ho Chi Minh that I had originally left



We moved accommodation as it was an extended day that I hadn't pre-booked. I had left a day free in case we decided to travel on the overnight bus or train. I think now that the horror stories I read about this journey may not have been justified or current. We saw travelers boarding buses that looked extremely modern, with comfortable reclining seats and free Wifi. No one that we spoke to complained about the service.



We moved to a wonderful, modern budget hotel with breakfast included, which only cost us $4 more. The room and bathroom were spacious and felt comfortable and fresh.



We had been buying a papaya each day and eating it with a tub of yogurt, so I went off shopping for one after checking in while Tomas had a sleep. Wifi wasn't as good in our new room but there was a lovely lounge/breakfast area downstairs which was great to hang out in. Our other guesthouse had no hangout area so this felt great!



I then dragged Tomas out for a long walk to the Bitexo Building- the highest building in Saigon. You can pay US$9 to go to the viewing deck or pay 150,000 dong for a coffee in the coffee lounge on floor 52.



The walk back was broken with a stop for a fruit smoothie and coconut cakes.



Friday Day 5

Flying out at 2 pm today, so felt no urgency to leave the lovely room/hotel we had. I woke early so sat on a cushion outside our room working on my computer while Tomas slept. Maybe if I didn't disturb him he would have a chance to catch up on his sleep??



At 11 am walked a short distance to the bus station and hopped on the bright yellow 109 bus again. This time there were only westerners on the bus with backpacks all heading for the airport. There were no more than 8 people on the bus for the whole journey.



Our flight was meant to leave at 2 pm but a storm flew over while we were waiting for the flight and that delayed it until 3.30 pm. We were getting a little frustrated because we didn't really want to arrive in the dark.



Here is a link to my amateur youtube video that I made on Wednesday May 25, 2016 in Ho Chi Minh's September 23 Park.

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Photos

Coloured Sticky Rice
I think that's what it is!

Hello House Ho Chi Minh
The second place we stayed that I hand picked

Vy Khanh Room
Our very squeezy room

Comments

[Sue]

Fab
Pleased all is going well. You are so organised.