After a long 8 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh I made it to my final country in south east Asia, Vietnam. After crossing the land border between Cambodia and Vietnam I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city.
When I got off the bus I was a little groggy and my phone wasn't working to tell me where I was in proximity to my hostel. So of course the next best thing to google is to actually ask someone local how to get there. The person I asked ended up being a taxi driver and was insistent that it was to far to walk. After the long bus ride I just wanted to get to my hostel, so I took the taxi. The hostel was down a little ally way so I managed to get a bit lost even from where the taxi dropped me off.
When I got to hostel I met another Canadian and we went to dinner. We tried a traditional Vietnamese pancake type dish. You take the tried rice floor pancake along with lettuce, herbs and bean sprouts and wrap it in rice paper. It was a great first experience with Vietnamese food! It was over dinner that we were talking about trip in to Vietnam (ended up she was on the same bus as me). From the bus stop she walked to the hostel which took her around 10 mins walking. My taxi ride took 10 mins driving, which was when i started to question if I had been ripped off. Taxi drivers are known for taking tourists in circles to run up the meter. When it came time to pay for dinner, I then started doing the calculation of how much I had actually paid for the taxi. Ended up I was charged almost $50 Canadian for the 10 minute taxi ride. It was then I knew for sure I had fallen prey to one of the many tourist scams.
After dinner we walked around the park headed towards the central market. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was closing up, but the walk offered a good perspective of the area. On our way back we were stopped by some local students who asked if they could speak to us to practice their English. This is quite a common request in major tourist spots around Asia. I usually oblige as long as I'm not in a hurry, ask I think the dedication they have to trying to learn the language is admirable!
The next day I was off on another adventure around Ho Chi Minh. My first stop was a beautiful park in the city with cool sculptures and gardens. It was also a nice to see local people in their everyday life doing tai chi, having coffee, playing with kids.
My next stop was the war museum. The front entrance was surrounded by planes, trucks and tanks used in the war. Inside there were a number of different exhibits explaining aspects of the war which included photos and artifacts. It was great to learn more about the war, however the museum was very one sided favoured towards the Vietnamese.
I didn't know that the museum closed at noon for lunch, so I only had an hour there but probably could have used longer. As I reached my next destination, the independence palace I learned that all of the major attractions shut for lunch between 12 and 1:00. This gave me a good excuse to try one of the nearby restaurants I had read about.
After lunch I reached the independence palace, which was home to the head of state (president) preceding and during the war time. One of the coolest things on display is the huge bunker that was used to protect the president, this family and other state members during the war.
I love just walking around the city and stumbling across interesting sights. Following my visit to the palace I got to see the notre dame cathedral, Ho Chi Minh statue and square and old central post office.
That evening I had told one of the students I had spoken to the night before that I would meet up with him again to assist him in practicing his English.
On my final day in Ho Chi Minh, I headed out of the city on a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels are one of the longest in the world and prevented thousands of Vietnamese deaths during the war, as it gave soldiers a place to battle without being seen. We got a chance to crawl through the tunnels. They are extremely small and claustrophobic, even though they have widened them to be "tourist size". It was great to be able to get to see another very historical part of Vietnam.
