The boat ride from Koh Rong was beautiful although the sea was quite rough. We almost missed our connecting bus as the boat broke down half way back to the mainland, it took one of the workers in the boat and a helpful traveller about 30mins to go down into the engine to work out what the problem was . . . something to do with oil (it all sounded very safe?!) but then we were on our way again. The night bus to Ho Chi Min was surprisingly ok. The whole trip took 18hours! We think it was probably good that we had the tiring kayak trip earlier that day as we slept the whole thing. Waking only to cross the boarder leaving Cambodia behind and saying hello to Vietnam! We arrived to the bustling hooting city of Ho Chi Min about 10am and luckily realised we were only a short walk from our guesthouse so we didn't need to barter with any taxi drivers (no tuk tuk's in Vietnam!)
The Saigon Inn hotel was really nice and we were suprised at the quality that we got for our money. The owners were so friendly and keen to help and give us tips. After dumping our bags and freshening up we headed straight out for an explore of the city. We went in search of some lunch quickly having to learn how to cross the roads! There are zebra crossings but they don't really do anything. The city is constantly buzzing with thousands of motorbikes with taxi's, busses, trucks and rickshaws dotted between. All of them weaving in and out of each other like a disjointed schole of fish using no mirrors or signals, just beeping at each other constantly. The motorbikes are staked up over capacity with family's, chickens, wicker baskets, televisions, panes of glass, bags of rice, wardrobes . . . you name it and it can go on a bike without batting an eyelid! When it comes to crossing the road you just have to go for it, walk at a steady pace and assume that the traffic will move out the way!
Lunch was good, in an expensive area but we were so hungry we didn't have the energy to shop around. After re-fuelling we made our way to the Ben Tham Market. The market is fantastic, completely manic and full of colours and loud voices asking you to buy, look or touch! Yet again we were quick to learn the Vietnamese for a smiling 'no thank you' with a few 'yes pleases' and 'how much's?' when we were tempted! Our favourite stalls to look at were the dried fruits, coffee's and teas. Weasel coffe caught my eye and I soon regretted asking what it was when I found out the coffee was made of weasel poo (strangely enough I didn't purchase that one!)
After a bit more exploring we soon started to lag, feeling the effects of the 18 hour journey and headed back for a rest at the hotel. We went out that evening for dinner on Bui Vien street which is the Main Street for travellers. Probably my favourite street in Saigon, lined with street food and bars on the side of the road where you sit on little plastic chairs and take in the colourful busyness of the street. We felt like we had to have a drink at a bar with a big neon sign called 'Crazy Girl!' It was fun but we were still sleepy and got to bed in good time for a proper nights sleep.
The next morning we woke up feeling fresh and ready for a good explore of the city. Just as we were leaving the guesthouse we passed the couple who owned it cleaning out a room, they asked us if we wanted to upgrade for free . . . Stupid question! We quickly packed and took our bags down to a much bigger room with loads of space, awesome bathroom and a huge tv!
We went straight to the market for breakfast as we had been eyeing up the food stalls the day before. We tried out the Vietnamese speciality of Banh Xeo which is a super tasty yellow pancake with loads of bean sprouts, shrimp and pork inside. It was delicious and I was happy to have tried a different type of pancake :)
We then wandered the city taking in the architecture, locals and general atmosphere. It was nice that we could see so much on foot and after a couple of hours of exploring we made our way to the Reunification/Independence Palace. This is the palace that was built by the French in the 1960's and used as the souths presidential palace. It's now left exactly how it was in the 1970's when the communist tanks crashed trough the gates forcing Saigon to surrender to the north.
It was a pretty interesting place but felt a little bit like walking round a stately home in the UK. The basement was pretty cool though where the President lived and the control centre of the war was based. Everything was left exactly how it was with the desks, communication machines and plotting maps all over the walls. It was really interesting but could have done with a bit more explanation as to what everything was and how it all fitted in with the history of the war.
We then made our way to The War Remnants Museum which was a lot more informative. It definitely explained more of a one sided history of the war and very against the US but it was good to see the war from there perspective and really interesting to learn more about it. Yet again, so recent but something we did not get taught in education. The facts and figures given of the war crimes and effects of agent orange bought me to tears quite a few times. The rooms are very intense and did not sugar coat anything. The thing that got me the most was the effects of agent orange and how it is still being carried through to generations today. After seeing the consequences of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and then of the Vietnamese war it really made me question the human race and how people can feel its ok to commit such crimes, murder and suffering to others. Although harrowing I am glad that we went. We spoke to some handicapped and deformed children from agent orange and donated some money to their charity before we left.
We were warn out from our exploring of the city and the information we had taken in so it was the perfect opportunity to get a rickshaw ride back for he guesthouse. We ended up sharing one bike and were pushed through the middle of the manic motorbike filled roads sitting with me at the back and Ruby on my lap, it was great fun!
That evening we headed to Bui Vien street for some yummy kebab style street food. Ruby had been doing a bit of research into 'Cool Bars' in Saigon and discovered a blog that suggested a place for cheap local rum. It was such a good find! This 'bar' was more like someone's house with some children's sized plastic chairs and tables on the pavement in front, on a street where only locals seemed to go. We were welcomed warmly and asking for some rum we were sat down and given a whole bottle (they don't do glasses!) a bowl filled with tiny limes, a bowl of peanuts, glasses, ice and soda . . . amazing. It was a real experience and the rum was delicious! We received lots of smiles from the locals and they seemed impressed that we had found them!
After a few hours of sipping our rum and cracking our peanuts we made our way back to Bui Vien and bumped into Jamie and Christian (from the Wirral), two guys that we had met on the last bus. We went to a few bars with them and were quite happy when we realised we had found some people who were equally as bad at pool as we are!
We checked out at 11am the next day and spent the next few hours back at our favourite market and taking in the city before catching the bus at 3pm to go to Mui Ne.