Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

From knowing at least one person in a country to complete anonymity. From staying at a friend's place to a hostel. From touring on foot to taking day tours with wonderful strangers from various nations. Most of my friends thought I was seriously odd to do this but I did it anyway. Sad to not have seen at least one Filipino backpacker but amused with the fact that most people still view the Philippines as one big island, with a question on how well the inhabitants speak English. To be immers...

In the late morning, roommate #2, one of the Canadians and I motivated ourselves to go to the War Remnants Museum. This museum is presented from more of a Vietnamese perspective. This was interesting because from what I remember of studying the Vietnam War in high school, we only heard various American perspectives. There is also a room which is set up to educate people on the impact land mines on people from around the world. I thought that building was the whole museum, but there wer...

Only my second full day in Ho Chi Minh and I already wanted a breather.  However, baring a holiday, I have never left again.  I love Minh City, I think that I was just eager to spy a bit of the countryside.  I negotiated a horrible fare, in retrospect, at the time, however, I thougth I was the master of the barter.  I'll leave that number untyped.  I hopped on the back of a motorbike and headed to Cu Chi to check out the tunnels used by the Viet Cong. ...

I arrived in Saigon safe and sound... well at least sound. It was kinda like Bangkok, just a little more gritty and -real-. Flying out of Nagoya, I had a layover in Taiwan, and spent the second plane ride really digging into my head. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got off the plane, but I was more afraid of what I might meet here than anywhere else I've traveled... extreme sports? Who needs em, I travel alone.I stepped outside and a taxi driver immediately latched onto me. He wanted 10 b...

This was our second stop and to our dismay we actually stopped at the port of Vung Tao (I don't know if I spelt that right).  The port is about 2.5 hours from Ho Chi Minh so we got a bit worried about just trying to wing it on our own.  Neither of us are very interested in the tour packages they offered and both of us wanted to see Saigon, not some small city out side of it.  We tried to sign up for the Ho Chi Minh on your own 'tour' which was just transportation to/from the ci...

  I went to the Bobby Brew Coffee shop for a cup of good coffee and an (overpriced) American breakfast of eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and toast. The street clamored with a funeral procession. At two nearby computer repair shops, I explained the symptoms of my crippled laptop but neither were capable of assistance. Their displays of accessories appeared to lag a decade behind the western world's computer age. For the time being my laptop was doomed.    I decided to spend the re...

It was yet again another early start for me today as I waited for a bus to take me for a tour of the Mekong Delta, south of Ho Chi Minh City. I was looking forward to a leisurely boat ride down the river as opposed to the madness of the city. The bus took a while to reach the Delta but nowadays I'm pretty used to long bus/train journeys so 8 hours just isn't a problem anymore. Its strange to think that I used to think London to Manchester was a long journey (3-3 and a half hours). It just rea...

We woke up before sunrise and left when everyone was still sleeping, in the middle of the night (around 4 to 5 AM).I tell ya it's dangerous to go by motorbike in Saigon, but it's hella fun. :D I already did it when I was in VN the first time... I was 13. I am bad, I know. However we went by motorbike. I love that... to ride through villages, crossing ricefields, seeing beautiful landscapes, with the wind in ur face and freedom in ur heart.We own a lil piece of land behind Go Cong. It's in the...

Part One: Vietnam is one of those countries that everyone says, "Oh yeah that'd be fun" but gets overlooked for reasons such as language, situation and expense. However, I think that it should be on the must-see list, especially if you're travelling to Asia/Oceania. There are many different Vietnams, that I got to experience: tourism and shopping form a large part of most big-city life but agrarian culture and village lifestyle in the nearby countryside is beautiful and so humbling...

Transition All the way from Brisbane I feel a tightening sort of trepidation. The last 3 months have been same, same... the next 3 promise to be different, different. Strapped into my backpack like a snail to it's shell I walk through the exit doors of HoChiMin airport. Outside hot air swirls loud as a song; dense, fumey, foody, peopled air. Noise is errupting silently all around. I breathe, smile , relax. Hello Again Asia, It's good to be back.   The Rex   On nights ...

We staan om 06:30 op want we moeten om 08:00 klaar staan voor vertrek van de cyclotocht. We gaan naar het restaurant op de begane grond om te ontbijten en komen er dan achter dat het ontbijt klaar staat in het restaurant op de 10de verdieping. Het eten ziet er goed uit en we laten een Pho kaar maken (een soort van soep met noodles en wat groenten in bouillon) en snoepen nog wat fruit en brood met zoetigheid. Om 08:00 staat iedereen beneden en ook Michel heeft zijn werk gedaan, de cyclo’s s...

Nach dem Frühstück habe ich meine Weiterreise organisiert. Morgen fahre ich für zwei Nächte ins Mekong-Delta, von dort möchte ich auf dem Mekong mit dem Boot nach Angkor Wat, einer riesigen Tempelanlage, fahren - wie schon geschrieben, Züge gibt es von hier bis Thailand keine und wenn ich die Wahl zwischen Boot und Bus habe, nehme ich ganz sicher das Boot, auch wenn es vielleicht ein wenig länger unterwegs ist.Das Wetter war vormittags zumindest schön, also bin ich nocheinmal durch di...

JUN 2007--One of the last few cities in Asia I've yearned to set foot on (and actually did), Ho Chi Minh (previously known as Saigon) provides an easy and pleasant weekend to enjoy with friends Bruce and Alex. (They enjoyed it way way sooner, though; the weekend I caught up with them they were party-overdosed!) Some snapshots...

I knew that I was going to volunteer at an oprhanage during this journey.  It was something that I needed and wanted to do at the beginning of February 2008.  I wanted to be around children and I wanted to make them happy.  And so  I researched on the Internet while I was in Pai, Thailand where I found an opportunity that fit my interest - in the south of Vietnam - in Ho Chi Minh City.  Because most of my time would be 'working', I only had one day in S...

People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip: Juliana (Russia), Dean and Ora (Australia) Our last few days in Ho Chi Minh City were spent mostly relaxing, taking a few walks around the city and been rejected from entry into the Presidential Palace on no less than 3 occasions! Every time we were told to go back the following day, only to be told the exact same thing, clearly it just wasn't meant to be! We also went to a water park with Dean and Ora only to find it closed for ren...