Sun 12 Mar
Sad to be leaving Cambodia today as the people have been lovely and we’ve seen some amazing things but at the same time we are looking forward to our next chapter in Vietnam! We got a very expensive taxi (US$20) to the airport (25 mins) but was a very comfy SUV that had just been bought by the driver (business student aged 30) to upgrade his taxi! We were honoured to be his first ride in the new vehicle and so were happy to hand over $20 for his first repayment installment! Got a free history lesson all the way to the airport, didn’t draw breath, not even Alan could get a word in! We flew on Cambodian Angkor Air joint flight with Vietnam Airlines – CA$160 ??? each ticket and flew to Ho Chi Min City (formerly Saignon) . Took about 1 hr 10min. On arrival we found the bus #152 to take us into town and showed the driver the Maps ME point with the hostel marked down and he gave us the thumbs up to let us know he would tell us where to get off! Cost about 40c each and he charged us for an extra seat as we had bags too! Note he didn’t charge the locals that – but for 40c wasn’t going to point this out! Hustled out at our stop and tried to follow Maps ME to find the hostel in the busy Pham Ngu Lao Area in District 1. A maze of streets and alleyways with so many hotels and hostels but finally found a sign pointing to Lily’s Hostel down an alleyway lined with budget accommodation. This had a good rating on booking.com and was in the city’s budget zone. Checked in with Duc, warm & welcoming and then told us we were staying at the sister hotel on the opposite side of the alleyway. Climbed up 4 flights of stairs with our bags to find our room in the “Bed Station”. US$84 for 3 nights. Room was clean and white with newish linen so quite adequate for our stay. Did a bit of research for what we were planning to do in HCMC and got a few brochures from Duc. Went to a couple of travel agencies to glean bus info about the Open Bus concept in Vietnam, how it works and which companies offer it. Found an agency called TDK and spoke to "Son" who recommended ways to travel around and told us to think about it all and come back when had a rough itinerary and dates. Meantime we booked a tour to Chu Chi Tunnels with him for a couple of days time . (Had checked out the info re TDK online and the reviews raved about their tours etc). Was surprised that although there were quite a few scooters around, it didn’t seem to be the bedlam that Nikki described from her visit here. Bought a sim card from a phone shop that Duc told us to go to. About $20 for 30 days coverage in Vietnam. Looked up a dinner spot on L.P. and read about a cheap & cheerful place very close to the hostel, called Asian kitchen. My first Vietnam dish was a claypot with fish and Alan had croc tail – not bad but not as flavourful as Thai food. Went for a drink in a bar overlooking the busy Bui Vien Street where all the tourists hangout, bars and travel agencies and Circle K stores abound! Expensive drinks in these people watching bars – but always entertaining! 

Mon 13 Mar
Up early as wanted to beat the heat and get walking fairly early. Had a baguette with scrambled egg, watermelon and a strong coffee that I watered down as was a kettle and mugs in the breakfast room . Breakfast included in room rate – a lot in Vietnam accommodation seem to be! We set off on the LP walking tour of the old city. By now we are starting to see the build up of more and more scooters and bedlam on the roads as Nikki had told us! You have to be brave to cross the road and just go – you choose your timing for when there are no big busses or trucks and just go when there are scooters and weave your way through them – quite a scary procedure! We walked along 23/9 park which is a long skinny park that used to be the old railway terminus. Noticed lots of areas with gym equipment and mainly older folk using them all – all man-powered machines of course but in really good condition! We headed up to Ben Thanh Market – every town, city, village in Asia has to have a central market it seems! All seem to have the same things – the food, the clothing (same-same but different) and electronic gadgets. Carried on through some narrow streets lined with antique stores selling ornately carved wooden furniture, Ming vases of all sizes and containers and sandstone pediments. Passed a street market and stopped to recoup in a shady terraced coffee shop. Huge wide boulevards ,adorned with flowers and some neon & glitzy bling (they love bling here). Searched out the Bitexco Financial Tower with its 68 floors, very modern skyscraper with a heliport deck sticking out of the side of about the 55th floor! LP advised not to pay the $14 entrance fee for the skydeck but to go to the Saigon Skydeck Restaurant and grab a drink to admire the stunning view of HCMC . Much security and passing through 3 elevator systems to get to the 48th floor – sharing a ride with an American couple that we soon got chatting with. Beautiful views from the wrap around bar – wasn’t too busy so thought we would just sneak back down but guess we weren’t the only ones to try this novel idea and were told we had to buy a drink to go! Americans soon found they were in the same predicament so we joined up and sat with them chatting for a while – interesting couple from Washington DC – he a lawyer and she teaches law. Got to taste an elderflower cider which I never knew existed and really liked and probs never find again! Set off on our tour again – walked along the river frontage park on the Saigon River, passing hotels with historic relevance and statues including one of Ho Chi Min himself in a very pretty maintained park. The statue stands right in front of the pinkish “Peoples Committee Building”. Wound through a maze of streets, also looking for ATM to take Cirrus cards, which seems to be a rarity! Had lunch in a fast foodie place that seemed to be the only place we could find that had something other than deep fried food! Visited the Notre Dame Cathedral – a beautiful brick structure built in the 1880’s with a statue of St Mary holding an orb at the traffic circle in front. On the other side of the roundabout was a beautiful yellow French styled Central Post Office – attractive building. We then had to wind our way through the streets to find our way back to point A and had booked a Saigon Tours “Night & Foodie Tour by scooter” departing at 6pm . Quick shower and downstairs to meet our hosts – I was on a bike with the leader of the pack – young 24 year old gal, Tai and Alan was to travel with Steve. We set off ducking and diving through the streets to met the rest of the group – another 4 bikes. What an exhilarating tour to do – you weave through about 5 different districts in HCMC – from the upmarket to the narrow alley and back streets – they fly along, sometimes you have to close your eyes as cant believe what happens in roundabouts! Tai laughed that shed never had a 6’2” lady on the bike before and my legs were so long she could use them as arm rests beside her! She’d also never had a blue-blooded Zimbabwean on the bike! We went to 5 different street food stalls (2 were inside so more like little restaurant) – and we sat down and they showed us how to make and we got to eat all the different types of foods so we would know what to order ourselves. We got to make rice pancakes and managed to get them off the “steam griddle” without messing them up! We had such tasty food (and so stuffed by the time we got to the end of the tour) – they were such a bunch of fun kids – all students wanting to improve their English (all spoke beautifully) we thought! They were so friendly and asked many questions and always made sure we knew exactly what we were eating or drinking and where we were. The other 2 couples we were with were English – 2 young resident docs and a couple who looked in their 70’s – a really great evening that lasted 4 hours and they returned us back to our hostel at the end of the night . Gave them a fat tip which they were so thrilled with! Got a follow up email the next morning with pics and a description of what we had eaten. Def a must to do US$45pp.Bahn Cuon (steamed rice roll) : Banh mi (Saigon bread with chicken, pork, herbs, salad) : Bun Bo Hue (beef rice noodle soup) : Banh xeo (crispy Vietnamese pancake with filling) : Banh beo (sticky rice cakes) & flan & tofu desserts
 
Tues 14 Mar
8am start for our TNK tour to the Chu Chi tunnels. Very slick operation with buses heading off to all parts of town and the Mekong Delta – followed a young lady displaying our bus # on her paddle and boarded the coach for the 1 ½ hr trip. Our guide was Jon who was very funny and kept you on your toes, calling you out if you weren’t participating! 70km from the centre of town and very built up all the way to the tunnels and of course we had the mandatory tour stop at a workshop where handicapped workers were making all sorts of lacquer souvenirs – pictures, trays, containers – you could walk along and see exactly how they made the inlays with eggshell and seashells and even rice – the whole production. By the end of the 20 min stop there were about 10 coaches parked outside – busy place – grabbed a smoothie and continued on our way. The 1 ½ hr trip was by now 2 hrs! We watched a video about how the tunnels were constructed & how people survived during the war. Chu Chi was an area of vicious fighting, bombing and destruction during the Vietnam War. The tunnel network of Chu Chi became legendary during the 60’s for its role in facilitating the Viet Cong to control the area. More than 250km of tunnels were burrowed in 3 levels under ground. Once there we had were shown the special constructed areas with kitchens, bedrooms as well as storage areas for weapons, weapons factories, hospitals and command centres. Many hidden trap doors and dangerous traps within the maze of tunnels. Hard to believe that so many people lived in these rabbit warrens for 2 or 3 months at a time. The tunnels were mostly too small for American soldiers to fit in! Incredible place really – but a long way to travel to see them. Once bus got back to the office we popped into see Son who was going to book all our train tickets for us as decided this would be the best way to travel up through Vietnam – some long distances to cover and easier walking around in the train and get to see much of the countryside. Train tickets very cheap! Cant do it all by train but most of it. Son ordered them and we have to pick up in the morning before we leave for Dalat. Went to the Futa bus station at the end of the same street and purchased our tickets for the coach to Dalat in the morning – leaving at 11 to make sure we got the train tickets first. Dong 210,000 pp for the 7 hour ride. Wandered around trying to find a store to resupply some toiletries – spent ages searching and ended up buying from Circle K! Dinner back at the Asian Kitchen again.