Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh Travel Blogs, Travelogues and Travel Journals - Page 2

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…

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…

After an emotional goodbye at the airport, with Kyle flying off to conquer the world of transport planning, I wasn't really in the mood for dealing with Thai immigration as to why I had overstayed my visa. It wasn't like I hadn't intended to, to be honest, seen as it worked out a lot cheaper to pay a fine for a couple of days than renew for a whole month's worth. Although I got out of the country fine, I still felt like I had been breaking the law and was getting a telling off. On the way to…

We have to get up at 6.30 am, but after sleeping like a baby all night long this isn’t too much of a problem. We go to the restaurant on the first floor to find out that breakfast in the Vien Dong Hotel is served in the restaurant on the 10th floor, so up we go again. The buffet looks pretty good and we order a pho (this is a clear bouillon with noodles, some vegetables and two or three small pieces of beef) which is cooked on the spot. After that we try some of the fresh fruit and some bre…

Finally, I had some time to update my travel journal for my recent trip to Saigon, Vietnam this August 2008.It was a memorable 6 days trip.I had chosen to go to HCM city at the spur of the moment as Jetstar airways were having a promotion and I just had to go somewhere. Kinda regretted it a little later coz i should hv done more research and stayed more days and went up to Nha Trang, Hoi An, Halong Bay and come back frm Hanoi instead!Nevertheless, I still enjoyed myself tremendously in this c…

During our stay in Saigon, we stayed at the Oscar Hotel (located on Nguyen Hue, Dist. 1). The location was perfect! No complaints about the hotel, really. We really enjoyed our stay there.Since we only were spending 2 days in Saigon, we decided that it would be best to take organized tours. We ended up meeting a man on the street who takes peope around on tours for a standard fee per person. Sincewe only had two full days in Vietnam, we thought that taking a private tour would be more benefic…

The district of Cu Chi lies 70km North of Saigon and houses an immense network of underground tunnels which were of great strategic importance during the Vietnam war.  These tunnels have been preserved and, in recent years, opened to tourists.Wanting to avoid the over touristy experience, we decided to take a local bus to the Cu Chi around lunchtime, and give the organised tours a miss.  It was a great decision because, despite the stares, laughs and occasional look of disapprovemen…

It was onto The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, some more rain, a cool Dutchman named Tim, an ultra fresh Vietnamese girl named Linh, motos ��" millions of them ��" everywhere! Some chi-town people I randomly met in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamese coffee, bootleg DVDs galore, some “pho” (Vietnamese noodle soup), rain again, an Indonesian salad L, a museum on women in the Vietnam war J, the Cao Dai temple, the Cu Chi tunnels ��" of course ��" in the rain, some cool Spaniards, a…

Can I just start by saying Welcome to the world little baby Courtney, who was born over the weekend in Plymouth!   We are now in country no 6!!!! We are in 'Nam. We can now say "when I was in 'nam" oh yeah there is no stopping me now.   Now this place is mad. Well Ho Chi Minh City anway. Its so busy. Bikes everywhere. Neon lights. Kinda what you imagine chine or japan to be like. But the people are really friendly. We didnt find this in Cambodia. There we found them a bit money…

Our flight back was uneventful apart from a bizarre little stop at a place called Rach Gia which had the bumpiest runway we've ever landed on. Getting into the city didn't seem quite so bad as it had last time, maybe because we knew what to expect or maybe it was knowing that we were only staying one day!! We went back to Guesthouse 70 and the woman who runs it seemed genuinely pleased to see us again which made us feel welcome. We had a list of jobs to do as long as our arm which we got onto…

Saigon is an amazing place.  There is so much culture around.  From the food stands alongside the street to the cramped market and the mass amounts of motorcycles, I really like it here.  The people are so friendly and want to help you, which especially nice when I don't speak their language.  It's like playing Frogger to cross the street, but it's an experience every time.  You just wait for the motorcycles to dodge you and you make it across.  There seems to be…

Good food, friendly people, meeting up with a travbuddy and millions of motorcycles...Definitely a city worth visiting.

The summary of my vacation here in asia from BKK to Vietnam and more adventures in the future..