We arrived in Ho chi minh city (Saigon) on Sat morning. The flight (Cathay Pacific) was good - it left late and arrived early which was fine by us.
We were expecting to be mobbed at the airport by touts (wanting to take us to a hotel that they receive commission on) but this was not the case. We were amazed at how easy it was to get a cab, have him use the meter and actually take us to the hotel that we requested.
We've been in Saigon for 3 days now. First impressions:
- the city if fairly clean. We don't see alot of garbage on the streets, there are actually garbage can here.
- Reminds us of New delhi with the super wide sidewalks and the multiple lanes of traffic
- not alot of stray animals seen wandering on the streets
- sidewalks are easy on walk on
- the vietnamese are very friendly.
- they are efficient - they've made it super easy for tourists to travel in vietnam - they have tours for everything, and a pretty extensive tourist bus network
I was expecting alot more english to be spoken here but this is not the case. communication has been a little difficult, but the vietnamese are happy to try.
So far since our arrival we've been massaged by the blind (one hour full body massage for $2), experienced local delicacy (Pho is big here) - menus are not always in english so it makes ordering interesting, seen a water puppet show (just like it sounds - puppets on water - not sure how they do this, visited the war reminants museum (pretty intense - pics and relics of vietnam war - the americans were brutal with the use of chemical warefare) and the reunification palace.
We were expecting to be mobbed at the airport by touts (wanting to take us to a hotel that they receive commission on) but this was not the case. We were amazed at how easy it was to get a cab, have him use the meter and actually take us to the hotel that we requested.
We've been in Saigon for 3 days now. First impressions:
- the city if fairly clean. We don't see alot of garbage on the streets, there are actually garbage can here.
- Reminds us of New delhi with the super wide sidewalks and the multiple lanes of traffic
- not alot of stray animals seen wandering on the streets
- sidewalks are easy on walk on
- the vietnamese are very friendly.
- they are efficient - they've made it super easy for tourists to travel in vietnam - they have tours for everything, and a pretty extensive tourist bus network
I was expecting alot more english to be spoken here but this is not the case. communication has been a little difficult, but the vietnamese are happy to try.
So far since our arrival we've been massaged by the blind (one hour full body massage for $2), experienced local delicacy (Pho is big here) - menus are not always in english so it makes ordering interesting, seen a water puppet show (just like it sounds - puppets on water - not sure how they do this, visited the war reminants museum (pretty intense - pics and relics of vietnam war - the americans were brutal with the use of chemical warefare) and the reunification palace. 
Pic on left taken from Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels were used by the Vietcong during the war, and served as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters/villagers. The US tried to bomb the crap out of the tunnels. 80% were destroyed. The pic provides an example of the size of the bomb craters.Looks like the closest we'll get to Cambodia is the Cambodian embassy in Vietnam as mike's passport is only valid for 4 months more instead of 6. We took the local bus there yesterday. Not alot of tourists do this (because they don't need to with all the tourist buses, motorbike taxis and other modes of transport). It was good - albeit a bit confusing.
Gotta go - we're on our way to a 3 day boat trip along the Mekong Delta.
Gotta go - we're on our way to a 3 day boat trip along the Mekong Delta.
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