Friday 31st July 2015
I woke up early this morning as there were a bunch of people
up and about to catch a bus somewhere. It worked out well for me as it gave me
time to pack and have breakfast before the tuk tuk came to pick us up to take
us to the bus stop.
We arrived at the bus with a bit of time to kill. We had
been sold a VIP bus and actually it was pretty swish with comfy chairs and a
free bottle of water as well as a juice (which had chunks in it and was weird)
We set off and I mostly tuned out the world by listening to
music but I kept being drawn into the film that was playing (not in English) in
which a small fat girl had magic powers I didn’t get the storyline at all.
We arrived at the border and it was a all a bit of a hassle
at the beginning they had collected our passports (I think to check everyone
had a visa) but then they had to hand them out so everyone could get stamped
out and it took far longer than if we just had our own and walked up to the counter.
Even more long because then they took them again we drove 50m into Vietnam and
the process was repeated.
We arrived into Ho Chi Minh City around 4pm and headed off
to find our hostel as it was the weekend we booked ahead as every time I looked
there was less and less choice. We arrived and checked in and dumped our bags
then I went to get a sim card it was a long process as first I didn’t have
money then I needed my passport and then it just didn’t work for a while but finally
it was done and we were on our way.
At the hostel a girl had mentioned a vegan place so we hit
that up for dinner which was pretty delicious then took a look at the market
before coming back to the hostel to relax.
Saturday 1st August 2015
Five weeks till I touch down in the UK eeekkkk there’s still
so much to see!
I woke up kind of early this morning as I had a lot that I
wanted to see and only one day to see it all I started off with my free
breakfast at the hostel fresh bread and eggs was a bit of a treat.
First stop was the War Remnants museum on the way there I
popped into the market we went to last night as there was a huge section that
was closed last night. I took a wander around but nothing caught my eye and I
continued on to the museum.
I paid the entrance fee and checked out all the tanks,
helicopters, planes and guns that are parked out the front before heading into
the museum. It’s all really well laid out with different rooms holding
different exhibits all with different aspects to the war as well as the history
and what not. I spent about two hours walking about looking at the pictures and
reading stories about this dark chapter in the Vietnam story.
Aircraft outside the museum
Torture devices
tanks
interesting bomb statistics and some artwork made of shrapnel
Coming out of the museum I headed for the independence
palace, conveniently all of HCMC major attractions lie within walking distance
of each other and the walk between is rather pleasant with large tree lined
streets and plenty of pavement to walk on. I arrived at the palace only to be
told it was closed for lunch and didn’t reopen until 2pm (what is up with these
super extended lunch periods it wasn’t even 11.30am when I got there???)
I took some snaps of the outside and continued on my merry
way to the cathedral which was also closed for lunch but I did get a good laugh
out of all the countless people doing photoshoots outside in the most
ridiculous poses! The post office was right across the street so I went in and
got some stamps. The HCMC central post office is an attraction in itself. For
one it’s beautiful and for two it’s heaving with people working at the counters
or the small market stand in the centre etc. in no time I had bought my stamps
and was on my way.
The Independence Palace and Cathedral
HCMC Central Post Office
Since I was close by I decided to take a look at the Saigon
Opera House, again it was closed so I couldn’t go inside but I peered through
the doors and took some photos as well as considering buying a ticket to the
acrobatic performance but at almost USD$25 for the crappiest seats in the house
I decided not to.
Ho Chi Minh Square
It was now about 12pm and I had to be at the travel agent at
1pm to get my bus to the Cu Chi tunnels so I started walking back towards the
hostel taking in the fancy district and Ho Chi Minh Square along the way
I stopped off in the market to get a quick bite to eat but needn’t
have rushed myself as in the end I got to the travel agent and sat and waited
there for 20mins before someone came and took me to another shop down the road
where I waited another 20mins. Just when I was getting a bit annoyed at the
40minute delay the driver came over and we all got on the bus.
The bus then drove around the corner and stopped for a
further 30minutes this wasn’t a great start.
By the time we got moving we were
already over an hour late the guide then told us he was a newbie and didn’t
really speak very good English but when we got to the tunnels we would have
another guide. Despite being so far behind schedule we stopped off at a
handicrafts store where no one bought anything but we still had to wait for
20minutes.
When we finally arrived (it took two hours to drive 75km) we
were told to wait while he went and got the entrance tickets and found our
guide. Next thing you know he hands us our tickets and says to follow him we
walk through the gate (a process that takes an age as they scan each person and
then give them a sticker) and then we were inside waiting once more.
At this point another guide starts kicking off at one of the
girls in our group as she accidentally took two tickets at first we thought he
was joking but nope he was fully laying into the poor girl and it took several
big guys plus our guide to get him to back off. Thankfully he wasn’t our guide.
We then followed our dude who then told us to join another
(already rather large group) meaning that there was about 50 people all
cramming about to hear one guy talk and all trying to see what he’s talking
about which was somewhat impossible. Also he had already started when we joined
him so we missed the introduction and a bunch of stuff at the start
As it was such a large group taking pictures was also almost
impossible as to get close enough I had to wait for people to move but then I
missed the next thing as he didn’t wait for the group to arrive just started
his spiel once he arrived which for the amount paid was a bit of a joke really.
We walked through and saw the fox holes (I really wanted to
get in one but there was no time) the dog traps and jungle traps which were my
favourite part. We saw an original tank that has been left to rust in the
jungle and then the shooting range which we were forced to wait at while
whoever wanted to shoot did.
Finally it was time for the tunnels which is what we had
come to see, unfortunately though we only got to see a small section of tunnel
and there were so many people that it was a horrible experience
Not helped by the two girls in front of me who were
documenting the entire journey with obnoxious pictures (seriously girls a few
photos is enough you don’t need 20 plus pictures EACH in a frigging tunnel!)
and the girl behind me who was freaking out and pushing me the entire time
Dog traps
Me in a teeny tiny tunnel
Finally there was a film that was probably interesting but I
couldn’t hear it over the two English guys behind me talking about how Walt
Disney had himself cryogenically frozen and that America is due to start micro
chipping babies from next year…
When the film ended we got back on the bus and drove two hours
back to the city. We should have arrived at 6.30pm at the latest but actually
arrived just before 8pm so it was lucky I hadn’t bought a ticket to see the
acrobats at the opera house.
I went straight for food and met an interesting English
expat who was telling me about vegan restaurants in Vietnam and how to tell people
I’m vegetarian in Vietnamese which was pretty awesome! Once I was feeling
satisfied I went and bought a bus ticket to Mui Ne tomorrow morning roll on the
beach! Once that was done it was bedtime
No comments:
Post a Comment