Blogs from Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 12

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

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 ... read more

Thursday and Friday were overall pretty low-key. Finally I got a good night's sleep, so moving forward there should be no more jetlag :-) Thursday was a full day of work - I spent the first half of the day with my admissions counterpart and the second half leading a training for the whole Southeast Asia team. Lunch was catered by the restaurant I had gone to on my first day, propaganda, but they screwed up my order so instead of the duck curry I got duck spring rolls. Life goes on. After the work day was over I grabbed a Filipino beer with my trainee to kill time before our dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse. Lebanese, Brazilian - Ho Chi Minh City has it all - can't say I would have chosen to eat either ... read more