Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So after our experience in Hanoi and reading up on HCMC we were kind of dreading arriving here, but we have been pleasantly surprised and actually are enjoying this city very much.
Arriving in Saigon at 7pm on a Saturday night could of been a nightmare but a lovely jolly lady met us off the coach and led us down some alleyways to a guesthouse (more like a family home) and offered us the room for $6, bargain, nice huge room so we were not going to argue. We gave the family our dirty laundry, grabbed a nice cold shower (hot showers really are luxuries we do not often experience these days) and headed out to wonder the streets in hope of finding a bar playing the rugby. No luck in finding the rugby but had a few Tiger Beers in a nice bar sat on the second floor people watching. Although the streets or traffic arnt half as mad as Hanoi it still seems quite dangerous as we sat and watched a lady knocked down by a car, scooped up off the floor and put in the same car we guess to be taken to hospital, her shoes just left scattered across the road!
So today we ripped the map page from our yellow bible (S.E Asia on a shoestring, lonely planet book) and walked the streets heading for the Palace and then the war remnants museum, both very interesting places to visit and very educational about Vietnam's history. We have both read a famous book whilst on our long coach journeys (The Girl in The Picture) which has given us an insight into the effects of the war here in Vietnam but I dont think anything prepared us for the pictures or stories we saw in the war museum, all very sad and actually left us feeling rather sick and with many thoughts!! Feeling rather saddened, we headed to blow todays budget on a beautiful Vietnamese meal followed by a cold snickers.
So we leave tomorrow on another coach to go to Cambodia. Yes you may all well be thinking we are doing alot of coaches but this is because it is the cheapest way to travel as companys offer open bus tickets dirt cheap and make commission from the hotels and restaurants where they drop you.
We have loved Vietnam and only wish we had more time to spend here....
Lots of Love
Gill & Karen xxx
- comments