Sunday 19th
We were on the bus at 7:45am to leave for Saigon but we didn't leave til 8:15am for some reason, if we knew this, we would've had breakfast. About an hour from Dalat I realised that i didn't have my passport, Kay didn't have hers or mine either...the Dalat hotel forgot to give them to us and it didn't cross our minds. Not good. We had their card so we rang and they would send it to Saigon to arrive tomorrow.
The ride wasn't too bad but it was quite long considering the distance we needed to travel, particularly as we got close to Saigon where the traffic was very heavy and slow. We arrived around 3pm, went to our hotel of choice and relaxed. We went out for dinner in the area, hit up by several people asking if i wanted (low voice) "marijuana" and plenty of sunglasses and book salespersons.
Monday 20th
We slept in and headed to Ben Thanh market to have lunch and shop. There were many street style stores within the market. The one we ate at tried to rip us off, our meals were 35 000VND each and we had a drink each plus Kay had some Durian. They wanted 210 000VND, how is it that two drinks and some fruit could cost 140 000VND? We debated this and they gave us a better price, although i still feel we were ripped off. We informed some German girls who sat down as we were leaving about the rout.
We spent 2.5 hours shopping! I got some shirts, hunted for a gucci bag but the belts were two short, Kay got sunglasses, make up and some bangles. There was alot more touting from the shopkeepers than in previous markets, some were very forceful. One lady actually grabbed my forearm with some force trying to get me in. Once again the t-shirt person tried to rip me off. First offer was 950 000VND, i stayed firm on 300 000VND and we finished on 310 000VND. They always try to tell you how it's better quality and all that bullshit.
On the way back we went round the travel agencies to get quotes for Mekong and Cu Chi tours plus our ticket to Cambodia. We got our Mekong tour for $7, Cu Chi for $4 and our ticket to Phnom Penh for $10. We also got a $2 discount overall. We wanted to go straight to Vietnam's lowest border crossing since we wanted to start off on Cambodia's southern coast but we had to go to Phnom Penh first and connect from there. We could've done what we wanted but it would mean a combination of local transport on both sides of the border and would certainly cost more than $10 each.
Tuesday 21st
We went to the Mekong Delta today, left early in the morning, almost missed our bus due to bit of a stuff up but the agency. It felt like we never left Saigon because they was continual shops and houses on the road all the way to the Delta.
Once we arrived we got on a boat and headed to Tortoise Island where we had lunch. Lunch was fairly poor. The set lunch was fried pork with rice, funny considering there was a group of 10 Malaysian Muslims within our group. 14 people ended up not getting pork and had to settle for good 'ol tofu, unless you wanted to buy something else of course. Kay doesn't like pork so we had a beef dish to share.
From there we got back on the water and went to a place that made coconut lollies, which were pretty nice. We also had coconut whiskey and lemon honey tea (really nice). They had a python which people were allowed to have on there shoulders (15kgs) . It was an interesting experience since it wrapped itself around 80% of my neck and was either looking at me or trying to, not a nice feeling. It was incredible to feel the snake's muscles move.
We got onto smaller boats this time and got to our bus. The day went so fast, it would seem that half the time was actually travelling to and from the Delta. No wonder they offer two and three day trips. I think it was better the last time i did it.
Wednesday 22nd
Today we went to the Cu Chi tunnels which were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Another long journey considering it wasn't too far away. On the we way we stopped at a factory where disabled people made handicrafts, a good cause yes, but $20 for a wooden card holder? I can bet that the workers don't get even half of that.
For some reason our group of 20 became 40 as we merged with another group. It was our tour guide who was 'guiding' everyone. This was absolutely terrible. Imagine trying to listen to someone with an accent and see what he is pointing out when you are surrounded by 40 odd people. By the time you could have a look and/or a picture he would be onto the next item.
I was expecting not to go into the tunnels because i was just small enough when i was 15 let alone now. However since then the first tunnel had been widened and made higher. It was still had for me, at some points my shoulders were wall to wall. It was very hot and yucky inside, quite tiring aswell.
Surprisingly when we got to the gun range i was the only person who wanted to shoot. It was $13 for 10 bullets on the AK-47. I did 6 shots on semi-automatic trying to hit the target then the last 4 on automatic. I remember the gun being alot stronger last time. Kay couldn't handle the gun fire at the range, it's loud but bearable.
We were there two hours and we were already returning to Saigon. We decided to go to the War Remnants museum on the way back since it was offered to us. It was now 3pm and we had not eaten since breakfast, we found a place called Latino bar and restaurant, it sold no Latin/Spanish food at all. By the time we ate, we didn't have time to go to the palace as it closed at 4pm, we would do that tomorrow. We went straight to the War Museum, which worked out fine as we were there til it almost closed at 5pm.
It had been done up since i was last there, it actually had a proper building and you could call it a proper museum, another notable absence was the still born babies that were preserved in jars, although there were pictures of them. The museum contained old weapons, artillery, tanks, planes and many photos of the War. A must see in Saigon.
Thursday 23rd
Slept in til 10am today, had lunch (left hotel at 12) and headed for the palace. We arrived after 1pm, which was when it reopened after the Vietnamese siesta from 11:30am-1pm. The clouds looked stormy but it was still very hot. The Reunification Palace as it is called now was the old South Vietnamese Presidential Palace pre-1975. We explored all the levels, it wasn't much to be honest. Alot of rooms for hosting people etc. When we were in the lower ground floor we heard rain, so we headed into a video room about the Vietnam War. We spent around 25 minutes watching and headed out. It had stopped raining thank god (alot of walking still to come).
We headed to the near by Notre Dame Cathedral, wanted to see the People's Committee Building but we got lost. This part of town is very fancy with Louis Vuitton and Rolex shops (real ones), as well as top 5 star hotels. We walked way too far and ended up at the Saigon River. So we double backed a bit and finally got to the market where we knew our way back.
I spoke to Steven Vo from school, who is back living in Vietnam now about meeting up. We had dinner with him and his girlfriend (yum cha) and went to a coffee shop where they were having a fashion show at the time. We didn't have long together because the traffic was hell (Steven has a car) and we had to be back before 12 midnight as we were to get up at 6am to get ready to go to Cambodia. Good to see him nonetheless.
It was very hot in Saigon the whole time. Would've been above 30 degrees without a doubt combined with humidity.
Friday 24th
Another early start for our journey to Phnom Penh. The bus was absolutely pumping the air con, everyone had shoved something in there air vents to stop it. Getting through the border was a breeze, they had x-rays and the sort but didn't use them at all.
We arrived in Phnom Penh around 2:30pm, got a tuk tuk to our hotel of choice and went straight to bed. Woke up before 6pm and headed out for dinner. The dinner was at a place full of Cambodians and a few tourists. The meals were huge and the Angkor beer very nice.
We leave for Kep tomorrow morning.
p.s already Kay has been mistaken for a Khmer three times!
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