Friday 3/28/2008- Monday 3/31/2008:
Our short 50 minute flight to Ho Chi Minh City was thankfully uneventful. We were greeted by someone from our guesthouse at the airport. He rode a motorcycle to the airport, so he arranged for a taxi for us and then met us at the guesthouse when we arrived 10 minutes later. The guest house tucked into a little alleyway, so we were glad we arranged for transport, because it would have been hard to find late at night. The room was similar to what we have encountered in most guesthouses in SE Asia. We went straight to bed after putting our bags down as it was already midnight.
The next day, we explored all corners of Saigon. We started at Ben Thanh Market before making our way to the HSBC in town to grab some local currency. From there we saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, went to the post office and checked out the Ho Chi Minh City Museum. For lunch we went to a place called Huong Lai which was started and is run by former street children in Saigon. A portion of the proceeds go to charity to help other street children. The food was very good, so we were happy to get a treat and help out a good cause at the same time. After lunch we went to the Independence Palace which is the Vietnamese version of the White House. We made a quick stop at the Buddhist Temple in town, which was very urban and very crowded, nothing what we expected. We then headed to the Vietnamese Blind Massage School where they offer massages by blind people with all proceeds going to charity for the blind. It was nice to donate money to the blind, but the massages were…. horrible. The worst part was that after his massage, Dermot was harassed and backed into a corner by his masseur because he wanted a big tip. We headed back to the guesthouse, booked a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels for the next day and then went to bed.
At breakfast we met a girl from New York who was in her last week of a 6 month tour of SE Asia and a couple form England who just started their 12 month tour around the world (sound familiar?). The English couple David and Jill were actually on our trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, so we headed off together to get on the bus to them. David was a Liverpool and Beatles fan, so he and Dermot hit it off right away. On the way to the Cu Chi Tunnels we stopped at a handicapped artist’s warehouse for a “bathroom break” which required walking through a shopping area. It seems that every tour in Vietnam requires numerous stops at shopping areas. At least it was for a good cause, though and we actually ended up picking up a small painting. Back in the bus it took another hour to arrive at the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was amazing to see the underground tunnel system that the Viet Cong lived in for a large portion of the war. It was also interesting to see an non US-biased view of the war. You can still sense a bit of angst that some Vietnamese have for the American Imperialists. The trip was definitely worthwhile and helped put into perspective what it must have been like to be fighting in the war. When we got back from our trip, we decided to head out to a water park with David and Jill. We stopped for some Pho at a little shop down the street from our guesthouse and then headed to the water park. Unfortunately by the time we got there, they were no longer selling tickets to the water park. We ended up going to the amusement park next door instead. We went on the Log Flume ride to get our “water” craving satisfied and then walked around the park trying the bumper cars, haunted house and checking out the animals in the zoo in the park. It wasn’t quite what we expected or were hoping for, but it was still fun. We then headed back to the guesthouse washed up and headed out to dinner. We find a place serving “fresh beer” on our way to dinner, so we stopped in for some drinks. After our fill of fresh beer, we stopped at an internet shop and printed out our e-Visas for Cambodia. We then found a little Vietnamese-Italian restaurant with a huge menu ranging from noodles to nachos to gnocchi. The food left quite a bit to be desired, but it was enough to fill us up before heading home. We booked the 2 day bus/boat trip to Phnom Penh and then headed to bed.
We woke up at 6:30 a.m., got ready and had a quick breakfast. We said goodbye to David and Jill at breakfast and then set out on our Me Kong River Delta/Cambodia trip adventure. The start of the trip consisted of a 1 hour bus ride to the river. We then boarded a boat and toured the Delta from the water. Our first stop was at a coconut candy factory. The make a sugary paste out of fresh coconut and then cut bite size pieces out of it. We then stopped at a rice crispy factory where they fried rice in very hot oil to make crispy rice. From there we carried on to a little coastal village where we had lunch. Unfortunately our tour guide did not have everything planned out very well, so we only had 25 minutes to scarf down lunch and then get back on a boat. After a short boat ride we jumped on a bus to Chau Doc where we would be spending the night in a hotel. This hotel room might have taken the cake for the worst hotel on our trip award. The room was small and dirty and the bed did not seem appropriate for a human to sleep on. The dinner was not much better. Dermot couldn’t stomach his fried rice, so Katie and Dermot shared her fried noodles which were edible. When we went back up to the room, Katie did not think she could fall asleep without some A/C, so we paid $5 extra to have the A/C turned on in the room. The A/C was not very efficient and probably made the room only 5 degrees colder then without it. We laid down our sleep sheets watched “Firewall” starring Harrison Ford on TV and then went to sleep.
We woke up at around 6 a.m. the next morning to get ready for our boat ride to Cambodia. The breakfast was slightly better than dinner the night before. We packed up our stuff and jumped on a bus for a quick ride to the river. From there we took a boat to explore a fish farm on the river and an old Cham village. The Cham are Muslim people whom are an ethnic minority in Vietnam. From there we got back on a boat and made the long trek towards the Cambodian border. On the boat we befriended a Canadian couple in front of us who were on a 3 week trip around SE Asia celebrating their honeymoon. Their names were Nathan and Allie and we hit it off right away. We stopped for lunch at the border and then met another American couple (Ben and Andrea) who were on our boat. Ben and Andrea had just finished a two year stint of teaching in Korea and were doing a little traveling before returning back to the States. After lunch we walked across the Vietnam/Cambodian border and then boarded another boat (a less comfortable one at that) and made the 3.5 hour journey up the river to Phnom Penh.