Ho Chi Minh Buzz

Ho Chi Minh City
I am finally landed in Vietnam after 4 months of waiting for my time to travel again. It felt incredible to walk off that plane and feel the blistering humidity of Vietnam in May :) Mom you would absolutely hate it. Good thing it's you not me :)
This city is incredible with the symphony of hornes and the buzz of a million motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic all day long.
The humidity is quite intense here but as soon as you forget the fact that you are constantly dripping and not near any water it is an amazing city to experience. I think just about every single person owns a motorbike and is on the road at the same time. You see the odd car but they are not common. My first experience crossing the road basically consisted of me stepping off the curb, walking particularly slow for crossing the street and holding your break in hopes that no bike will hit you before you reach the other side. Whoever is bigger and faster has the right of way.
Amy and I are staying in a nice hotel called Madam Cuc's in the heart of Ho Chi Minh the first day we got up reasonably early and decided to do a walking tour of the sights. We started with breakky at our hotel which serves us a fresh baguette with strawberry jam and bananas and oj. We drank heaps of water gathered our bags and ventured out into the degree humidity to start our exploration. First stop was Ben Than markets which are a big attraction here, found these to be similar to the Khan in Cairo but ALOT more clothing and material to be sold. We then carried on wondering to Notre Dam with a juice filled coconut to cool us down. This is where we ran into two motorbikes wanting to take us on a tour. We were a bit warry at first but eventually accepted after making a verbal deal on price. It was a great tour, we zoonmed around the street on the back of a motorbike for two hours just like one of the locals seeing the great city, Saigon River, China Town, Pagoda Temple, a special Sunday service at another temple, and more markets. They dropped us outside the War Remnant Museum as requested and then told us it would be million dong. Being the experienced travels Amy pulled out her itouch and we did the conversion to make sure all was good. After we figure out they had overcharged us by $50US we gave them what we knew and negiotiated. They were definitely not happy...used the tactic of no we will not accept your money and then one guy grabbed my arm and started to say ok police station, police station so I said YES police station....They were trying to fool two girls who were not there to be fooled!
That afternoon we sat in aircon grabbed some lunch and headed off to the museum. This was definitely an eye opener and something incredibly tragic to learn more about. The war in Vietnam was fromt 1963-1974, between North (communist) Vietnam and South (Republic Vietnam). When the American's became involved and used their weapons and toxins to destroy 3 million people in Viet cong (gureillas) and injur another 3 million and ultimately still affect peoples lives today, those exposed to the agent Orange chemicals dropped throughout South Vietnam. These events now are known as war crimes from the USA, violating human rights. This museum depict the war very well and didn't diguise any of the brutal photography or events shot throughout the times.

That evening we treated ourself to a massage and dinner out at Pho 24....best meal here yet, Pho Ban (Chicken soup for those westerners). Ended the evening with drinks at the Crazy Buffalo, very touristy but good to catch up with some of Amy's friends who are here teaching English :)

The second day we trekked out to the Mekong Delta which is the 'rice bowl' of Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is an idylillic landscape carpeted in a dizzying variety of greens. It is a waterworld where boats, houses and even markets float upon the endless rivers, canals and streams that flow life life-giving arteries through the region. The Mekong starts in Tibet and eventually reaches the sea at the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, about 110km south east of the city. We took at 2hr boat ride from Ho Chi Minh to the Mekong Delta observing a lot of the cultural life along the way. Different housing built along the river and the different boats bringing produce and materials up the river. We got to My Tho which is the gateway to the Mekong and went to a bee farm to try some of the local honey and tea, I got to extract honey from a honeycomb with hundreds of bees on it with my finger! Dad I thought you may like that.
We were guided in long boats down a little river with bamboo shoots all around us until we reached Ben Tre which is famous for Keo Dua (coconut candy). We visited a Coconut candy assembly line and watched how they made this coconut candy from scratch and then tried the different types which they make (plain, peanut, chocolate for the American's) ha
We had a few hours free time in Ben Tre and cycled around to see the local markets and houses. Then relaxed and tried to cool down in the hammocks before falling asleep....such a hard life!
That evening Amy and I met up with Joe and his cousin for a few Saigon Beers! This is Joe's first time meeting a lot of his family and seeing his mother country...his mother hasn't been back here for 25 years, I can only imagine how crazy it must feel, I'm glad that I can be a part of that too!

Our third day in Ho Chi Minh we did another expedition out to the Cu Chi Tunnels which is an underground zig zag network of over 200km tunnels the Viet Cong dug, lived and fought in the tunnels when the American's were attacking. This is located 60km from Saigon and it was a fierce battle field during 1960-1972. It was about a 2 hour bus ride from the city and was a great history lesson to see this all first hand. We actually got to crawl in a 50metre tunnel which was used and has been preserved since the war. It reminds me of the underground homes and tunnels in Cappadocia, Turkey. Very same idea how the people lived underground, but these ones only had 3 levels that went 10metres underground, so not as extensive as the Turkish ones.

It has been a great few days but Amy, Joe and I are definitely ready to hit the beach! We fly to Hue tomorrow which is a cultural city north of Ho Chi Minh in the middle of the country, where most of the blood shed of the war took place, from there we will head south to see more of what this beautiful country has to offer!

The people are friendly, the food is amazing and the weather is hot! The only warning we get is people on the motorbikes driving bye and snatching your bag from around your body. We have heard of two people this has happened to since we've been here. So we are taking care of our bags and using money straps!

Until Hue.....xxx