Good morning Vietnam!

I know that this title is outdated. But on a later point you will see why I have chosen it anyway.

The reception at the New Saigon hostel was awesome. The hostel has Friendly staff and a glass of juice is served while the room is prepared. After a quick shower I was ready to explore the city. But as the city tour was limited I decided to change plans and visited the Chun Chi tunnels. These tunnels were used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. The tunnels were good fun to crawl around but also interesting and depressing. But the biggest fun for most tourists seemed to be the shooting range. Only our guide Ken (not relate with Barbie) seemed to hate it. For dinner Alessandro and I plus some other guys we met on the tour went to a great noodle soup shop in a corner of the back packers’ area followed by some beers.

The second day was devoted to the beauty of the city of Ho Chi Min. For about 6 US$ I booked into a group tour bringing me to all important sights the city provides. Our tour guide Casey was ok and the group quite funny. We started at the War Remnants Museum and got some insight of the cruel heritage the USA brought with Agent Orange. Next stop was the obligatory factory stop followed by the Thien Hau Temple and the quit funny Binh Tay Markets. The afternoon was devoted to a very interesting tour in the Reunification Palace. Then another fabric was squeezed in before we ended the tour with a photo stop at Notre Dame Cathedral and the General Post Office. The city hall was skipped due to time issues (remember the fabric visit) but it is under construction anyway. As I wanted to explore the area I left the group at the Post Office and finally went back to the backpackers’ area by Moto-Taxi.

After a quick fresh up I was ready for a cultural evening starting with the recommendable water puppet show and followed by a dinner cruise. The package came at around 30 US$ and one gets plenty of food (if not to say too much) for the money. I ended the day at the new business tower just next to the harbour area. The bar is at the 52^nd floor and prices are equally high. For a Mojito I paid 16 US$. But it was worth it!

On the next day I already made my pack and left HCMC for the Mekong Delta. The bus pick up worked well and was perfectly on time. But just after approaching the tour office Ms. Kim was sitting next to me asking if they can change me to the 3 day tour instead of the 2 day tour because of a problem with the boat. As my schedule is tight she told me to team me up with another tour company which was fine for me. So until 2 pm I was with the 3 day group watching some floating markets, candy making and rice paper production. After a short bicycle ride we reached a nice restaurant where we had good fish (for a little extra).

Then they putted me on a Moto-Taxi bringing me to the ferry port of Vinh Long. From there a different Moto-Taxi took me to a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. After a short wait a minibus picked me up and drove me to the highway where they flagged down a big sleeper bus. The big bus drove me all the way to Chau Doc where they kicked me out in the outer skirt and almost drove away with my luggage. Very long 30 seconds latter a Moto-Taxi approaching and showed me an SMS containing something like my name. So I was convinced to go with him and he safely drove me to the floating hotel. At the hotel the receptionist informed me that my tour will continue next morning 7am. This was for me a very weird experience as everyone except me seemed to know what will happen except me. But I finally safely arrived and so far the promised program was fulfilled.

 

The floating hotel is a great choice. It has nice rooms and a good restaurant on top overlooking the river. So on the next morning I really had this good morning Vietnam experience with the whole country shining through my window. As promised the tour continued at 7am with a quick boat ride to a less interesting fish farm and the bit more interesting Cham community. The best thing here was the banana pancake sold by a local lady just before approaching the mosque. We continued whit a very dodgy guide towards the boarder. He collected our passports, the visa fee for Cambodia and his 5 US$ bounty. One can try not to pay the 5 US$ and to do it alone but as the Vietnamese side of the boarder is not really manned it can be challenging to get stamped out. But I definitely didn’t like the guy anymore when he did the trick with the old (false) 20 US$ bill. He admitted that somebody gave this to him (a lie from somebody who works with money every day) and he wants somebody to change it for a new one. He admitted that the bill can be used in Phnom Penh without problems. After admitting that it is a false bill he showed disappointment and half of the group donated 1 US$ to make up the false bill. Further he collected 5 US$ from people who booked the bus and not the ship from the boarder to Phnom Penh. Finally there was no bus.

 

Generally I must admit the all tours have worked out well. The promised program was generally fulfilled. Price wise it is recommendable to book on site and to shop around or negotiate as there is often room for 20 to 30% discount. The Vietnam Experience was great and I look forward to come back one day. But now I’m up for Cambodia...