Ho Chi Minh Hotel Shenanigans!!!

Peoples Committee Building
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After a fairly rowdy flight from KL due to the large number of first time Vietnamese travellers on the flight we arrive at Ho Chi Minh City airport and its a case of pick your immigration desk, there are so many and no queues! Straight through, pick up our bags and out to meet our pickup driver, got it right this time, and off to the Dong Do Hotel. Little do we know what is about to happen!!

We get to reception and tell the guy who we are, there is a bit of movement then a wait please while he gets somebody else. Then the story starts how they have had somebody with a delayed flight who has had to stay another night and they don't have a spare room so they have put us in their other hotel called the Sport Hotel which is just around the corner at the same price. Now bear in mind we booked the Dong Do through the Lonely Plane booking service in March and reconfirmed the booking about three weeks ago when we arranged a pick up by them. We are not happy, reluctantly we go, its only about 50 metres down the road but the building looks more like an office block. Up to the fifth floor where there is a tiny reception desk with one person, the key is collected and we go up to the 6th floor and shown a room which stinks of mothballs, has one pillow on the double bed and plain white painted walls, pretty bleak room all in all. Then we are informed that breakfast is only avaiable in The Dong Do Hotel. We are definitely very unhappy. We ask for pillows and are left to our own devices, we haven't checked in at this stage. "Reception" rings and asks me to check in downstairs, I go down and start filling in the forms bit am very reluctant to do so. Its quite eveident there are no facilities here, not even credit card facilities and I ask to speak to the Dong Do Hotel, how am I supposed to pay etc. During the conversation they admit they have bumped us for a group booking, an NEC Convention which really upsets me. After more argument we agree to sort it out with the manager in the morning. Out we go for tea which is very nice at a restaurant called the Goldfish and over the meal we decide to check out prices at other hotels nearby and move the next night, almost immediately we find another one, which ironically we discover in the morning almost backs onto the Dong Do, who will take us straight away, we decide why not and go back and get our things. On the way out we dump the key at reception much to the surprise of a new receptionist, go past the Dong Do where I tell them what I think of their ethics and round to our new hotel called "The New Hotel". The staff are very friendly and there are absolutely no problems checking in. We have a good nights sleep in a comfortable bed.

Where's the electrician!!!!
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A much happier couple are we the next moning, particularly after a good but simple breakfast at our hotel. We make our way around the city on foot visiting some of the places we missed last time. The Presidential Palace is  most interesting a mixture of total indulgence and self importance and the absolute mediocre. HCMC is buzzing with activity all the time with motorcycles everywhere. Crossing streets is part skill, part timing and part luck, nevermind what the traffic lights indicate. Most of the time you know when the lights change by when the cars start moving or stopping. We have a pleasant day taking in the sights.

Inside the Palace
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In the evening we are on the prowl for somewhere to eat and find "Lemongrass" which turns out to be our best  meal in HCMC, the entree is truely great and our mains are on a par. Home then to the New Hotel and bed, just a short walk and we manage to beat the evening shower.

After breakfast, egg and fried noodles for me, omelette and toast for Carol and the obligatory "cafe" den (black) for me and sua (white) for Carol, we decide what to do for the day. Decisions are made, first its the Jade Emporer Pagoda then the Botannical Gardens/Zoo and the Vietnamese History Museum which is next to the gardens. We catch a cab to the Pagoda, a roundabout route follows because of the way the traffic flows in HCMC but its still not very expensive. The pagoda is a disapointment, run down and not much to see. We take one look at the traffic and catch another cab to the gardens which are within walking distance but crossing the main road will mean taking a chance with our lives and there are also no places for pedestrians to cross, a barricade runs right down the middle of the road.

Red marks the bomb site
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Arriving at the Gardens means another entry fee, only a few thousnad dong each and we head off. The Gardens are more a zoo than botannical gardens but it is an osais of green and relative peace compared to most of HCMC. The peace is punctuated at times by loud music from a childrens entertainment show in the grounds but its relatively easy to ignore. To our amazement at one stage the music is a cover of the Dutch group Focus. The zoo has quite a variety of animals including the obligatory tigers and elephants, the most interesting are the collection of asian cat species, we had not been aware how many there were. You know where the Fishing Cat is just by the rank feline odour it gives off!

City view at Midday
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The entire Gardens are well shaded, relatively cool and very peaceful compared to the bustle outside the walls and its nice not to be hassled by sellers and motorbike touts. The Zoo exhibits are old fashioned by the standards of a modern zoo but meticulously clean and tidy. All in all well worth a visit. After walking around the site we head for the Muesum, bad news its closed. We had forgotten most public buildings close between about11:30am and 1:30pm give or take half an hour for lunch and a "siesta". Time to get on the walking shoes and we head back to our hotel taking in the Saigon River riverfront. On the way Carol is the victim of an attempted mugging when a gang try to trap her between two motorbikes and steal her purse. She managed to fend them off and they immediately took off on their motorbikes. A close escape but no harm done. We spend the rest of the day pottering about and in the evening have dinner at Vietnam House, we had eaten there last year and enjoyed it so decided to give it another go. It's an up market restaurant situated in an old French mansion which has a great ambience but the food is not as good as Lemongrass, still worth visiting however. Tomorrow we head for Hoi An.