Made it to Ho Chi Minh City

Road Side Vendor
see all photos »

March 8

Noodle soup for breakfast. You gotta love it! Today was an 8 hour bus trip and two ferry crossings before our arrival in Hoi Chi Minh City (Saigon). Along the way every waterway is filled with stilted shacks and small boats out for the days catch. As we reach the wetlands there is an endless sea of lush green rice paddies filled with women wearing conical hats working in the fields. Hoi Chi Min City is a bustling metropolis where cosmopolitan meets poverty. Here we stayed at the Tuong Huy Hotel, a quaint little hotel in a great district that is close to everything. The street that we stayed on reminds us of a Vietnamese version of Robson Street in Vancouver, full of high end shops and restaurants. There are about six million motorbikes in the city, so you can imagine the madness. There are little or no traffic laws and traffic lights mean nothing. Tonight we say farewell to our Cambodia travel mates who’s company we have enjoyed for the last 8 days .

Noodle soup for breakfast. You gotta love it!

Tour of Ho Chi Minh City
see all photos »

March 9

Today we called home and Mandi informed us that they had 30 inches of snow overnight. We changed hotels today and moved a few blocks away to the Hoang Gia Huy Hotel which is very close to the Ben Thanh Market. We met up with our new group who we will spend the next 20 days with. There are 10 of us, 5 Aussis, 2 Kiwis, 1 Brit and us the 2 Canucks Seems to be a good mix of people. First impressions tell us we are going to  have a lot of fun with the group.

March 10

Cyclo Driver & Vicki
see all photos »

We took Cyclos (bicycles with a wheel chair type seat on the front) to the War Remnants Museum. The museum is full of photos of the Vietnam War and the effects it had on the people of Vietnam. The effects of the war, Agent Orange and land mines are very evident as you walk the streets. There are many beggers, some born with no arms or legs or some deformed so badly that there bodies are formed into a pretzel like shape. Many have lost limbs due to encountering landmines and there are still landmines lying undetected throughout the country. We passed by the Reunification Palace, which represents North Vietnam and South Vietnam reuniting. The last US troops left from the roof of this building by helicopter in 1975.

Cyclo Tour Ho Chi Minh City
see all photos »

We had an interesting dinner menu tonight. Some of the local fair included goat penis, field rat, dog, cat, scorpion, cricket, just to name a few. Check out the picture of one of the menus.