David –
Once again we had an early start to get to our next destination on time – Saigon. The bus we had booked through the hotel in Mui Ne was an experience in itself. We’d heard of sleeper buses, and even seen a few wiz by on the street – they looked like sleeping pods, some had TV’s. What we caught must have been the budget version – these ‘beds’ were arranged in three rows and two high, no seat belts and for anyone above the average height of a Vietnamese person insufficient leg room to actually lay flat. It felt a lot like being a sardine in a tin can.
We’d planned to meet my friend Hitanshu at Phatty’s Sports Bar at 2pm in District 1 to watch the semifinal of the Rugby World Cup between Wallabies vs England! After arriving in District 1 we headed to the bar and luckily we made it when we did as it quickly reached capacity and it was standing room only. It was about a 60-40 split between English and Australian fans so we did our best to raise the volume when the national anthem was played. It was a great vibe however Australia couldn’t deliver a come-from-behind victory and the chant of ‘Swing low, sweet chariot’ from the English fans rung out well before full time.
We managed to properly catch up with Hitanshu over dinner and drinks at a near by Korean chicken and beer joint. Lauren and I walked back through the bustling and chaotic streets of Ho Chi Minh and down Bùi Viện street – on weekends the street is closed to traffic and a street party ensues. The clubs compete to play the loudest techno music – oddly most were empty with most patrons choosing to sit on chairs on the street, unable to actually speak to one another over the white noise. We picked a seat outside a cafe and cooled off with yet another iced coconut coffee and enjoyed the people watching.
The following day we left our little pension called ‘The White House’, not to be mistaken with the actual White House. Our little 17 square metre room certainly felt small so we were eager to get out and walk to the War Remnants Museum.
The museum is partially out doors to display the US military equipment left behind after the war ended. After our sweaty walk (and of course stopping for a coconut iced coffee) we headed inside to the top floor. The museum primarily displayed photography of the war (with the evolution from black and white to colour) and the weapons used. Many of the images were from journalists who had lost their lives capturing the reality of the Vietnam war. Further on the horrors of Agent orange were graphically displayed – the use of Dioxin in the war is still causing significant health problems for people today.
After a lunch of fresh spring rolls and a coconut we wanted to escape the heat and humidity and catch a movie – the Joker. For $4 a ticket it was a great flick and the acting was memorable!
Dinner with Hitanshu was at his favorite Indian, we quickly recognised the menu from our our stay in Ninh Binh so we had to get the coconut lamb again! We farewelled Hitman as we had an early start for our Intrepid tour of the Mekong in the morning.
Ok – to explain the next few days I will preface why we’d even chosen to do a group tour. Early in 2019 Lauren and I had placed a deposit to do a 23 night tour of Mexico and Cuba with Intrepid (I was too old for Contiki haha). We thought it would be a fun and easy way to see a location we knew nothing about. As the payment for the tour loomed in August we realised that both Mexico and Cuba could be explored for far less money and we could have a more authentic experience than the rushed pace of tour group. So to not waste our deposit, we looked for another tour around the value of our deposit which turned out to be an overnight homestay in the Mekong Delta…
Lauren and I were looking forward to the trip – having been travelling during the low season there hadn’t been a lot of busy places to meet other travellers and of course when you travel in a group this happens easily. Given the price of the tour ($250 per person) we expected a genuine glimpse of life on the Mekong. The itinerary and reviews certainly gave us this impression too.
We set off to meet the tour group at the assigned meeting spot (the Ho Chi Minh Opera House) and were pleasantly surprised to see a large group of people. As we arrived we quickly realised that the others in the group were signed up only for the 1 day Mekong tour and not the overnight homestay, we were the only two on that tour! We thought that was a bit of a shame, but were excited to spend the day with some new friends…oh how we were wrong! As we departed on the bus we realised there were two tour guides, one for the group and one for us. He told us that we would be doing our own program separated from everyone else (even though we would be doing exactly the same itinerary). Lauren and I had to sit through everything separately completely on our own.
The boat ride around the islands.
Alone.
The ‘fruit’ farm (we didnt see any fruit trees) and locals singing awkwardly close ‘If you are happy and you know it clap your hands’ and ‘Jingle Bells’.
Alone.
The coconut ‘candy’ shop.
Alone.
The ‘Honey’ farm.
Alone.
The icing on the cake was lunch. Lauren and I arrived at a secluded restaurant after a short motored boat ride (which was supposed to be paddled) up a tight muddy (and littered) stream. The bigger group had already been seated on a long table. They were enjoying various local specialties, laughing among themselves and getting to know each other. Lauren and I were shown to a lonesome table (right next to theirs) to enjoy our own company further. We couldn’t help but laugh.
Lunch was also quite disappointing. Maybe that was just the taste of feeling separated from the others (who happened to rave about the mud flavored deep fried fish and the cat fish soup).
Onwards and upwards – we walked through the mid day sun to a main road/highway (stunning mekong we thought). A tuk tuk ride ensued which was probably the least comfortable mode of transport on the trip so far. The two-stroke engine screamed, smoke billowed out the back, the metal cage shook, our bodies jarring over the non-existent suspension and trucks bellowed passed for most of the 45 minutes.
The last couple of minutes where we came off the highway were probably the most genuine with locals going about their daily lives. We stopped and were told it was around a 5 minute walk to our homestay. We weren’t sure what to expect!
After a walk down a dirt track we arrived at the homestay and we noticed a few people around (yay we thought, maybe those cards we brought might come in handy to play some games with a group later)…Oh wait, no they left by boat and it was just Lauren, myself and the tour guide who would be staying the night! Again, could only laugh.
We were never actually introduced to the homestay family, it seemed the 100 person lunch the next day was their main focus so we played quite a few rounds of darts. We didn’t even bring our books because of course we thought we’d be so busy making friends.
Our expectations for dinner were quite low at this point. The ‘helping the family make dinner’ we were promised in the itinerary consisted only of rolling spring rolls silently (the filling had already been prepared). The food however was better than we’d expected and after chatting with Lukas (our guide) about English accents for over an hour we prepared our mosquito net and fan arrangement. Lauren discovered a big black spider inhabiting the toilet block.
A terrible nights sleep followed.
After being woken on and off again from the cawing of roosters from 2 am we dosed until 8. Lauren had a bad cough and the 32 degree heat and rising humidity made the prospect of a two hour bike ride (back along main roads) hardly appealing. We were already thinking about that first shower back at the White House.
We repeated almost the same steps to get back (without stopping at the toursity sales spots) and we hit traffic on our way back to Ho Chi Minh, we finally made it back to our humble room by 5pm.
To make up for the last 36 hours we looked for the best food in the city – Bun Cha 145 (amazing) and Pho Hung (even more amazing), an iced coconut coffee and of course the final Extreme chocolate ice cream.
Last night in Vietnam!
Far Away From Home 