Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam! The formerly named city of Saigon, was a welcome relief after the kind of drudging, on-the-rise but still a bit dodgy, Phnom Penh. We had learned our lesson about taking cheap buses (the bus ride from Siem Reap to PP was in a word, Brutal) so our more expensive $14 ride was much nicer. We met some new travel friends along the way (hi Cheryl and Magnus!) and hung out with them later that evening at a fun bar up on the top floor of a hotel. It had a great view of the skyline and pretty cheap beer! Darts, Jenga and picking our own playlist were highlights.
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| Drinks with a view! |
Our hotel is gorgeous compared to the last one. At $25 a night, it's a bit pricier than most but worth it. A/c, clean washrooms, super friendly staff and breakfast included. HCMC is a bustling town, with thousands of motorbikes racing around in a more organized fashion than in Cambodia. You have to be super careful about bag and camera snatching too, so more often than not, I left my camera back in the hotel and had my money/iPod in my bra.
Food wise, everyone seems super happy. I really liked the sandwiches (I had an amazing egg version) and the spring rolls. The buns they use here are incredible. Sometimes I just order a jam and baguette for breakfast. I tried Banh Mi, a famous Vietnamese sandwich. Unfortunately for me, everytime I see pate, I think of cat food. If I got my mind around that, it was pretty good! I also tried Pho for the first time and while I'm not a big soup eater and didn't eat the pork part, it wasn't half bad! Unfortunately, the rest of the day I didn't feel great but that may have been a combo of hangover/sun/meat soup. Still haven't thrown up yet though! I think that's a record. My family always says "it's not a trip til Susan pukes". Ha.
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| Trying Pho for the first time! |
Not many people seem to really enjoy HCMC because it's SO busy and a lot of the touristy type activities require you to leave the city on a bus tour. However, i like exporting cities and we have only been scammed once but at least he did it with a smile (we were overcharged at least 115% for coconut waters which we didn't even want). Also, we've found some cool public parks around the city with people playing badminton and greenery everywhere.
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| Eat your heart out, Edward Scissorhands |
We visited some Vietnam War sites, as well as a Mekong River mini-trip, but I'll post more detailed ones about that later. I've reached the halfway point of my trip and cannot believe the reports of snow back home. I won't lie, I'm pretty pumped to be in a tank top and shorts right now.
