Emma – Page 9 – Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure

Vietnam Day 10 – midnight sleeper train from Nha Trang to Da Nang

Tuesday 1st November 2022

We decided to get the midnight (well technically a little after midnight) sleeper train from Nha Trang to Da Nang. We’d only booked the tickets yesterday so were forced to select top bunks (the bottom bunks are apparently more desirable, and had already fully sold out). It also meant we’d be sharing our 4-berth cabin with two random strangers. Or so we thought. We actually ended up sharing with a family of 5. Apparently kids travel for free if you squeeze them into the same bed as the parents.

Unsurprisingly this didn’t make for a good nights sleep. The baby woke several times during the night, including a big screaming fit at 3am which seemed to be triggered by the mum rolling over on top of the baby in the night. The two toddlers woke up at the crack of dawn, and it was pretty much loud babbling interspersed with high pitched screams from then onwards. Ah well, I guess it’s part of the whole travel experience!

Other than the lack of sleep, the sleeper train was pretty good. The toilets were cleaner than I’d feared (though don’t forget to bring your own toilet paper!) and the bunks were comfortable enough, if a little small.

Sleeper train from Nha Trang to Da Nang, Vietnam. Our 4-berth cabin on the sleeper train, which ended up sleeping 7 of us! — Our 4-berth cabin on the sleeper train, which ended up sleeping 7 of us!

We arrived in Da Nang feeling pretty sleepy. It was too early to check-in to our hotel, so we went there to drop our bags, and then set off to explore Da Nang. We were staying in the Dolphin Hotel and Apartments, in a studio flat. After being on the road for over a month, we fancied a bit more space. This was also one of the more extravagant hotels we’ve stayed in (not quite as luxurious as the GTX Nha Trang) but very good value at under £18 a night.

We left the hotel, and it immediately became apparent that Da Nang is much bigger and more spread out than we’d anticipated. Distances that looked tiny on a map were actually quite far.

Our hotel was quite close to the seafront, but it was still a fair walk before we reached My Khe Beach. Like Nha Trang, the beaches in Da Nang very quiet, with very few people. However unlike Nha Trang, it doesn’t have a promenade the whole length of the shore, so we ended up walking along the road for some if it (we could of course walked along the beach, but wanted to avoid sand in our shoes – plus it looked as though some of the beach area belonged to private resorts and so was inaccessible anyway)

The beaches in Da Nang were beautiful but very quiet

Despite the fact it’s pretty dead around here, there’s an awful lot of construction going on. Several shells of large high rise buildings lined the beach front. Not sure where they expect all the new tourists to come from, but maybe if they build it, they will come!

There was a lot of construction work along the seafront in Da Nang

It was now early afternoon, so we went in search of lunch. We’ve been in Vietnam 10 days now, but not yet had Pho (although we have had various other noodle soups), so decided it was time to set that right and went to The Noodle House, which specialises in Pho. We ordered one bowl of tenderloin and brisket pho and one dish of fried Pho. The soup was very good, aromatic and fragrant, definitely a step above Pho I’ve had in Vietnamese restaurants in the UK, although Pete preferred the Bun Bo and pork noodle soups that we’ve had earlier in our trip. We were both in agreement that we preferred the fried Pho to the soup version though, it had a much meatier flavour and wasn’t as light and delicate.

Our beef Pho and fried Pho at The Noodle House, Da Nang, Vietnam — Our beef Pho and fried Pho at The Noodle House

By this time it’s late enough to check-in to our hotel, so we head back to shower (we’ve not had chance to change clothes since yesterday morning). We’re pleased with our choice of hotel, it’s one of the best showers we’ve had – hot, good water pressure, and doesn’t flood the entire bathroom! We also take advantage of the comfortable room to have a short rest – a nap for Pete, and catch up on reading my book for me.

It’s now late afternoon and starting to get dark, so we go for a river along the river. Da Nang has many beautiful bridges, including the famous dragon one. Apparently at weekends there’s a sound and light show at night, including some fire breathing! Unfortunately we’re not staying enough nights so won’t be able to witness it.

Some of Da Nang’s beautiful bridges, including the famous Dragon Bridge, lit up at night

We go to Lang Quan for dinner, a Vietnamese restaurant that’s owned by a Korean couple. The food was exceptional, it definitely deserves its 4.9 google rating. We shared grilled pork with rice noodles, shrimp spring rolls, and a side of wok fried morning glory with garlic. The pork dish wasn’t quite what we expected, the noodles were thin blocks of noodles that you wrap around the pork. It’s all then wrapped in herbs and lettuce leaves, and dipped in a yummy fish based dipping sauce. The pork was tender and flavoursome, and the herbs were fresh and delicious – an exceptional dish, and probably the nicest meal we’ve had in Vietnam so far. The spring rolls were also excellent (and shell-free, except for the little tails sticking out the end), and the morning glory was a delicious accompaniment.

Our very delicious dinner at Lang Quan, Da Nang, Vietnam — Our very delicious dinner at Lang Quan

After dinner, we went to the night market. It was ok, but I wasn’t overly impressed. It was way more pushy than other night markets we’ve visited – literally every vendor was hassling you to buy their merchandise or food.

The night market in Da Nang, Vietnam — The night market in Da Nang

On the way back from the night market, we passed a temple, prettily lit up in the nighttime. We didn’t go inside as they seemed to be in the middle of a prayer session and we didn’t want to interrupt.

The beautifully lit up temple on our way home from the night market

Vietnam Day 9 – a full day in Nha Trang, involving mainly beaches and temples

Monday 31st October 2022

I took a photo from our hotel room before we checked out, it’s a shame we don’t have longer here. The DTX Hotel Nha Trang is by far the must luxurious hotel we’ve stayed in since we arrived in South East Asia (also the most expensive, but still only £22 a night)

Sea view from our room in the DTX Hotel Nha Trang, Vietnam — Sea view from our room in the DTX Hotel Nha Trang

Today we decided to explore Nha Trang by foot. Most of the main sights seem to be beaches and temples.

We don’t get very far when Pete spots an ice cream fridge – yay, it has a new variety of banana ice cream! (All our holidays involve hunting for banana ice cream, so this is a cause for excitement). I went for some interesting looking choc ice things.

A new variety of banana ice cream for Pete, and some mini choc ice ball things for me.

It was only a couple of minutes walk to Nha Trang beach, and it was beautiful. But also almost completely deserted. I’m sure if this is just because we’re out of season or because it was a bit of a hazy day, however it was nice weather to walk along the shore.

Nha Trang beach was beautiful but surprisingly quiet

The beach also seemed to have a LOT of prohibitions. The sign listing them all amused me slightly. Swimming was also banned, as the tide is very strong – we saw some pretty big waves.

Nha Trang beach has many prohibitions, all helpfully listed in this sign.

A little further along the promenade is the Trung tâm Hội nghị tỉnh Khánh Hòa convention centre, a very grand looking building. During the evening, they had some live music outside when we walked past on our way home.

The Trung tâm Hội nghị tỉnh Khánh Hòa convention centre, Nha Trang, Vietnam, which had live music outside later in the evening. — The Trung tâm Hội nghị tỉnh Khánh Hòa convention centre, which had live music outside later in the evening.

Just opposite the convention centres is the Agarwood Tower, listed as a tourist attraction. It seemed to be falling into disrepair and was inaccessible when we were there, I couldn’t tell if it’s being renovated or demolished though.

The Agarwood Tower, Nha Trang, was in a state if disrepair when we visited, surrounded by hoarding and inaccessible to visitors — The Agarwood Tower was in a state if disrepair when we visited, surrounded by hoarding and inaccessible to visitors

The park behind the The Agarwood Tower was still in tact, and was beautiful to walk through.

The park behind the Agarwood Tower, Nha Trang. was beautiful to walk through. — The park behind the Agarwood Tower was beautiful to walk through.

At the end of the beach is the Bãi Rêu Nha Trang, marked as an attraction on google maps. I think it’s kind of a viewing point, and apparently at certain times of the year the ricks protruding from the sea are covered in moss and look beautiful. There was no moss today, so it wasn’t the most exciting view point.

Bãi Rêu Nha Trang - usually these rocks are covered in moss and apparently look way more impressive than they do today! — Bãi Rêu Nha Trang – usually these rocks are covered in moss and apparently look way more impressive than they do today!

After the beach ends, there’s a little memorial park with a monument to Alexandre Yersin. He was Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist, involved in identifying the bacteria responsible for the bubonic plague. He lived in Vietnam for many years, dying in his home in Nha Trang. If you’re interested in learning more, there’s also an Alexandre Yersin museum in Nha Trang, although we didn’t bother visiting it.

The Alexandre Yersin memorial park, Nha Trang — The Alexandre Yersin memorial park

We’d now reached the end of the peninsula, so we crossed the Trần Phú Bridge. Looking out to sea, there seemed to be a beached boat, stuck in the shallow bay area.

View from the Trần Phú Bridge Nha Trang, including the beached ship. — View from the Trần Phú Bridge, including the beached ship.

On the other side was another park overlooking the sea. There seem to be a lot of parks adjoining the various beaches and bays in Nha Trang, which makes it a very pleasant place to walk.

The park on the other side of the Trần Phú bridge, which had little tree house bird boxes

There’s also a little shrine at the end of this park, called Nha Truyen Thong Yen Sao Khanh Hoa.

The Nha Truyen Thong Yen Sao Khanh Hoa shrine, Nha Trang.

Our next stop was Ponagar Nagar Cham Tower, one of the top sights in Nha Trang. It’s an extremely unique artistic and architectural work of the ancient Cham people, that is well worth experiencing. Like a lot of temples in Southeast Asia, you can’t wear short clothing. We were fine, but if you have shorts or a short skirt on, they’ve got gowns you can borrow to go inside.

Ponagar Nagar Cham Tower was well worth seeing.

By this time it was early afternoon so we went in search of lunch. On the way we passed two dogs hitching a ride on a scooter (although they didn’t have their paws up on the handlebars, as some dogs do when they travel!)

We ate at Cơm nhà Yến Yến, but it was unfortunately very disappointing. It was 4.9 rated on google, but when we are there all the dishes came out quickly but were cold (so clearly not freshly cooked), the fish was dry, and the chicken was mainly bone and gristle. Definitely the worst meal we’ve had so far here.

Lunch at Cơm nhà Yến Yến was very disappointing.

The restaurant was just by Hon Chong beach. The bay here is much more sheltered, so it’s suitable for swimming. It was still very quiet though, with very few people around.

Hon Chong beach, Nha Trang, is more sheltered, with fewer large waves. — Hon Chong beach is more sheltered, with fewer large waves.

We walked up the coastal path at the end of the beach, where there’s a cute little park and a nice viewpoint over the bay.

There wwas a little park at the side of the coastal path, which led to a nice viewpoint.

At the top is Hội Quán Vịnh Nha Trang, a small museum where you can learn about traditional Vietnamese musical instruments and hear them play. It gets mixed reviews, so I’m not sure if we’d have bothered or not, but we didn’t get the choice as it seemed to be closed when we walked past.

Hội Quán Vịnh Nha Trang, where you can learn about traditional Vietnamese instruments

Past the headland is a little island with a Buddhist temple, Chùa Từ Tôn, and apparently you can get a fishing boat there. I really wanted to go but we couldn’t work out how to get a ferry across, there were no obvious boats to catch a ride on. I’m not sure if that’s because we were out of season or due to the time of day (mid afternoon seems to be nap time over here)

We set off back over the Trần Phú Bridge, in the direction of your final stop, the Long Son Pagoda. It’s about a 50 minute walk so we stopped off along the way for a cold beer at a restaurant/bar with an upstairs terrace. The beers were only 16,000 VND (about 50p!) so we ended up having three. Probably a mistake in hindsight, as at 5.30pm we suddenly realised the sun had almost set. We weren’t expecting it to get dark quite so early.

We enjoyed a cold beer on a terrace overlooking the street, but the sunset caught us off guard.

I was a little disappointed we wouldn’t get to see the Long Son Pagoda in daylight, but it was actually very atmospheric in the dark. The impressive dragon mosaics at the front of the temple were lit up, so you could still see them very clearly, and we were also able to go inside the temple.

The Long Son Pagoda, Nha Trang, was beautifully lit up and very atmospheric in the dark — The Long Son Pagoda was beautifully lit up and very atmospheric in the dark

At the back of the pagoda is a big hill, with a huge Buddha statue at the top. We traipsed up in the dark, and were pleased to find it completely lit up with floodlights. There was also a smaller temple with a big bell inside on our way down, which was lit up in red and framed by a lovely view over the city.

The Big Buddha at the back of the Long Son Pagoda, and the view back over the city

By this point we were feeling a bit peckish so went in search of our favourite Vietnamese snack – Bahn mi. We caught a Grab car to Bánh mì Phan, the top rated place for Bahn mi in Nha Trang. It was very good, but not quite up to the best we’d had in Ho Chi Minh City.

Our Char Sui Bahn mi from Bánh mì Phan, Nha Trang — Our Char Sui Bahn mi from Bánh mì Phan

We then walked the short distance to Nha Trang night market and had a wander around. It was ok, but nothing to write home about, and more goods for sale than yummy looking street food.

We continued to walk in the direction of our hotel, and stopped off at BAO ngon, where we bought a couple of bao buns to share – fried fish, and grilled bbq pork with fried egg. Both were delicious!

Our fried fish, and grilled bbq pork with fried egg bao buns at BAO ngon, Nha Trang — Our fried fish, and grilled bbq pork with fried egg bao buns at BAO ngon

We then headed back to our hotel. One of the reasons we spent a bit more money and picked this one, was because it’s got a rooftop bar that’s open to 11pm. So we thought that would come in handy whilst waiting for our midnight train. It was therefore very disappointing to find out this bar is actually closed. Instead we bought a couple of cans of beer from the fridge downstairs in reception (which they seemed slightly to reluctant to sell us) and took them to the outdoor pool area, also on the 20th floor.

View over Nha Trang from the outdoor pool on the 20th floor of the hotel

It wasn’t quite the sophisticated end to the day I’d envisaged, but was relaxing enough, and before we knew it, it was time to order a Grab car to take us to the station to catch our midnight sleeper train from Nha Trang to Da Nang

Vietnam Day 8 – the Independence Palace of Saigon and a very long train ride to Nha Trang

Sunday 30th October 2022

Today is our last day in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon, and I’m actually very sad to leave it – I’ve enjoyed this hectic city much more than I’d expected to.

Our next destination is Nha Trang, which I’d initially thought we should fly to. However, flying with the budget airlines is a lot of hassle – unless we wear loads of clothing and fill our pockets with our heaviest items, our bags are over the meagre 7kg carry on limit. Plus we’d need to ditch the full size toiletries that we’d purchased in Cambodia. And I like the idea of travelling through the whole of Cambodia and Vietnam overland. There’s a train that leaves Saigon at 4pm, so we’ll get most of the day to sightsee. It doesn’t get into Nha Trang until midnight, so it’s a long journey, but it’s cheap and will be an experience if nothing else.

Our plan for the day was to visit the Independence Palace then take a walk along the river. We checked out if the hostel, left our bags there, and walked to the Independence Palace. It’s a very impressive building from the front, and has a beautiful fountain in front of it.

The front of the Independence Palace in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) — The Independence Palace, and the fountain in front of it.

There’s a beautiful fountain in front of the Independence Palace in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) — The Independence Palace, and the fountain in front of it.

There’s an audio guide for the Palace, which you have to pay extra for, and which we decided to get. It’s not strictly necessary as there are a lot of text information panels in both Vietnamese and English throughout the building. The audio guide goes into a lot more detail though, so I personally thought it was worth the extra dong.

Inside of the Palace is vast, and it’s still laid out in the same way as when it was the residence of Ngô Đình Diệm, the President of South Korea.

It was very interesting wandering through the ornate and majestic rooms – it’s truly a luxurious Palace!

The ornate and majestic interior rooms of the Independence Palace, Saigon.

On the top two floors were the private living quarters. The bedrooms were laid around a central courtyard with a water fountain feature, that was open to the air. I loved the design and if ever I build my own house may well copy the rooftop courtyard idea.

We also got to see the original helicopter, sat on its helipad. They’d marked in red the spots where the bombs had been dropped by two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots.

The courtyard within the private living quarters and the helipad

Below the palace is a bunker, which was way larger than I was expecting and very interesting to visit.

It took quite a while to walk around the Independence Palace, so we had a coffee break in the cute little cafe. It has nice views overlooking the palace grounds, so was a good spot to relax.

There’s a museum next to the Independence Palace, which is an optional extra in the ticket price. We’d paid for entry, and I’m glad we did. It wasn’t as visually impressive as the palace but gave much more insight into the historical background. I found it fascinating.

By the time we’d been round the museum it was getting to mid-afternoon so we headed to a supermarket to stock up on snacks and wine for the train – a French Vietnamese fusion feast of fresh bread (from a Bahn Mi shop), cheese, ham, crisps, and red wine.

On the way we couldn’t resist getting another Bahn Mi to share as a snack, from the very first fried fish place we went to when we arrived in Saigon.

We then walked back to our hostel, picked up our bags, and ordered a Grab car to take us to the station, which arrived within minutes. We got to the station with plenty of time to spare, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out train ready and waiting for us.

Saigon station, where our train sat ready and waiting for us.

We’d booked 2nd class seats with air con. I was impressed by how comfortable the seats were and how much leg room – definitely a big step up from the long train we’d taken in Cambodia from Battambang to Phnom Penh.

Second class seating carriage on the Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) to Nha Trang train — Our second class seated carriage

The other two options we’d had (but chosen not to book) were 1st class sleeper berths and 3rd class seats. The 1st class sleepers (which formed the majority of carriages) looked very nice and comfortable, but for a daytime journey I’d prefer to be seated. The 3rd class carriage was definitely less comfortable looking than ours, but still looked ok.

1st class sleeper carriage on the Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) to Nha Trang train — The 1st class sleeper cabins and 3rd class carriage, neither of which we booked.

Third class seating carriage on the Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) to Nha Trang train — The 1st class sleeper cabins and 3rd class carriage, neither of which we booked.

We’d bought our own food and drink onto the train, but we needn’t have bothered. Soon after we left, a drinks and snack trolley came down the train, closely followed by one selling ears of corn.

Pete was just about to open our bottle of wine, when I noticed (what I though was) a ticket inspector coming down the aisle. When travelling on foreign trains, I’m always slightly nervous about contravening any rules against drinking alcohol, so suggested we wait until the ticket inspector passed. As it transpired however, she wasn’t a ticket inspector but someone selling meal tickets, which pretty much everyone except us seemed to be purchasing. Shortly after, a trolley with some kind of hot meal served with rice passed by to serve them their pre-purchased meals (as an aside, we then noticed a lot of people drinking beer, which was indeed also sold on the train, so our wine was actually well within the rules)

The hot meal trolley seemed to be very popular!

As the journey progressed, various other trolleys passed through the carriage, including boiled eggs, popcorn, pot noodles, and grapes! At the end of each carriage were water machines dispensing both hot and cold water, so a lot of people took advantage of the (Vietnamese version of) pot noodles!

I was also pleasantly surprised that the toilets were very clean (no toilet paper, but I’ve been carrying my own around with me so wasn’t a problem), and the air conditioning and lights worked! After our Cambodian train, where we sat in the dark for pretty much the whole trip, this did seem a real possibility. And when the the train pulled into a station at 7.45pm and all the lights went out, I was a little worried. Pete said it was because it’s a sleeper train, so maybe it’s now bedtime? Seemed a little early to me, and fortunately it turned out to be just a blip as 10 minutes later full electricity was resumed!

A couple of hours later, another trolley came down the carriage – this time with blue train blankets. I was tempted to take one, until Pete pointed out it was 24 degrees Celsius (the air con had switched itself off by this point). Apparently this is cold for the Vietnamese though, and a lot of people took advantage of the blankets.

The journey was very pleased and actually passed by a lot quicker than I’d expected. We arrived in Nha Trang just after midnight and got our Grab to the DTX Hotel Nha Trang where we were staying. We’d gone for a more expensive hotel (a whole £22!) and felt very luxurious, with a gorgeous view over the seaside. I felt slightly sad we wouldn’t have much time to enjoy it.

The sea view from our room in the DTX Hotel Nha Trang, Vietnam — The sea view from our room in the DTX Hotel Nha Trang.

Vietnam Day 7 – walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and all the yummy street food

Saturday 29th October 2022

There are a lot of sights in the central district 1 of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) so we thought we’d do our own little self guided walking tour. On the way to our first stop, we passed by what looked like a farmers market, right by the central market, so we thought we’d have a wander through it. Outside of the central market we’re several groups of kids, practicing various dance routines. This seems to be a common thing in public spaces in Vietnam, and is quite interesting to see.

The farmers market by the Central Market in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) — The farmers market by the Central Market

Our first stop on our walk was the The Ho Chi Minh City Hall or People’s Committee Building. It’s a very grand looking old French colonial building, in front of which is a big statue of Ho Chi Minh and the Nguyen Hue Music Fountain. I believe at night there’s some kind of sound and lighting coming over the fountain, but it still looked pretty nice in the daytime.

The Nguyen Hue Music Fountain, in front of the Ho Chi Minh statue and with the People's Committee Building in the background — The Nguyen Hue Music Fountain, in front of the Ho Chi Minh statue and with the People’s Committee Building in the background

The fountain is at the top of Nguyen Hue Walking Street. Again, due the name, I was expecting a pedestrianised street but there was actually a fair bit a traffic. There was a wide boulevard in between the two lanes of traffic, so I guess maybe this is where you’re expected to walk?

At this point Pete spotted a promising looking ice cream fridge. It did indeed have his beloved banana, and even a new variety – result! I went for a Häagen-Dazs green tea and almond, very tasty but a little overpriced.

My green tea and almond ice cream – interesting and tasty but more expensive than I was expecting.

Next we went to the Saigon Opera House (also known as the Municipal Theatre of Ho Chi Minh City), which was just off the Nguyen Hue Walking Street. It’s another impressive looking French colonial building.

The Saigon Opera House, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — The Saigon Opera House

As we continued our walk, we got another view of the People’s Committee Building, this time from a different angle.

The People's Committee Building, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — And there’s the People’s Committee Building again.

Our next stop was the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, which (as you may have guessed) was established by the French. I already knew that the cathedral was temporarily closed and we wouldn’t be able to go inside, but was disappointed to find it also surrounded by scaffolding. Apparently it’s undergoing restoration.

The Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, surrounded by scaffolding and closed to the public. — The Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, surrounded by scaffolding and closed to the public.

The Saigon Central Post Office is just across the road, and unlike the cathedral was fortunately open to visitors. It’s beautiful both inside and out. The inside is now used by tour guide companies selling tickets, and also has a few souvenir shops.

The Saigon Central Post Office, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — The Saigon Central Post Office

Just down the road from the post office is Ho Chi Minh City Book Street. No vehicles are allowed down this road and it’s so quiet and peaceful, a proper oasis away from the bustling city. As well as book stores, there are a lot of little cafés, it’s a lovely place to relax with a drink.

The quiet oasis of Ho Chi Minh City Book Street, Saigon, Vietnam — The quiet oasis of Ho Chi Minh City Book Street.

From here, it was a 20 minute walk to our next sight, the Jade Emperor Pagoda, an ancient Taoist temple with some colourful Chinese architecture. This was the only place we’ve been to in Vietnam (so far) where mask wearing was compulsory. Luckily I’d been carrying mine around with me in my rucksack, and the guy at the gate took pity on Pete and offered him one to take for free.

The Pagoda itself was huge, and impressive to walk around. Outside was also a pond area with some huge catfish.

The Jade Emperor Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam — The Jade Emperor Pagoda.

About a 5 minute walk from the The Jade Emperor Pagoda, we came across another temple by chance, the Tran Hung Dao Holy Temple, so decided to have a look inside. It was much smaller, but also much more quiet and peaceful than the Jade Emperor Pagoda. The inside was adorned with a lot of gold of red, as well as some big statues of horses. It was definitely worth a look inside.

The Tran Hung Dao Holy Temple in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, was very quiet and peaceful, and had a pretty cool looking interior. — The Tran Hung Dao Holy Temple was very quiet and peaceful, and had a pretty cool looking interior.

Our final stop on our walking tour was the Tan Dinh Church, an extremely pink Catholic Church built during the French colonial period. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed inside, but it was still worth seeing the exterior.

The very pink Tan Dinh Church, in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam — The very pink Tan Dinh Church.

We had a bit of time to kill before our scooter street food tour, which we’d booked for this evening, so found a bar to relax with a couple of beers. We decided to get a snack too, as hadn’t eaten all day and ordered some fried prawns with shallots and fried pork sauce. It wasn’t at all what we were expecting and was a bit disappointing. The “sauce” was actually just deep fried shallots and pork fat / pork floss, and the prawns had been deep fried in their shells (this seems to be quite common in Vietnam though)

Our prawny snack was a bit disappointing.

We’d booked a group tour, but there ended up being just the two of us. Our guides were Logan and Dan, both very friendly and with an excellent grasp of English. I’ve never ridden on a scooter or motorcycle before, so was slightly nervous as we set off for the first stop, but was soon put at ease on the back of Dan’s scooter – I think they deliberately started off very slowly and carefully!

Our first stop was Bún Bò Xưa, a little noodle shop that only sells beef noodles. The meat was on the bone, but was so soft and tender it was literally falling off, and the broth was rich and fragrant. A good start to the tour!

Beef noodle soup at Bún Bò Xưa, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam — Beef noodle soup at Bún Bò Xưa.

Just along the road from Bún Bò Xưa is the Thuc Quảng Đức Monument. Logan explained to us the history behind it. Thuc Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese monk who became famous when he set himself on fire to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the government. Malcolm Brown took a picture of him, alight with flames but remaining in a calm state of meditation, and this photo grabbed the attention of the worlds media and led to government reforms.

The Thuc Quảng Đức Monument in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam — The Thuc Quảng Đức Monument.

We then continued to our next food stop, this time our beloved Bahn mi. It was a little food cart called Ong Ba Co, just opposite the Lam hotel, which did amazing Bahn Mi. It was probably on a tie with the incredibly busy grilled pork Bahn Mi, which was the best we’d had in Vietnam so far.

Bahn Mi – the pate is homemade and the bread was fluffy and crusty, sooooo good!

I shared half a Bahn Mi with Logan, as Pete wanted a whole one for himself (we had the option of half or full on the tour).

Next we went to Chợ đêm Hồ Thị Kỷ, a night flower market, with neighbouring street food stalls. It was very atmospheric and fragrant wandering through the market and admiring all the brightly coloured flowers.

The flower market, which is open at night.

We stopped for a drink in one of the neighbouring street food market stalls – sugar cane juice with kumquat. We’d already tried sugar cane juice in Can Tho, but that was with orange, so this made a pleasant change. As expected it’s extremely sweet, I’m more of a savoury person so wouldn’t order it again but am glad I gave it a go.

As we were chatting to Logan and Dan, Pete mentioned we’d tried “Vietnamese pizza” in Can Tho and weren’t massive fans. Unbeknown to us, that was actually meant to be the next stop on the tour but as it was just the two of us, Logan very kindly suggested we swap it out for coconut ice cream.

It was great ice cream, with strips of coconut flesh running through it. I was less convinced by the green avocado sauce at the bottom, but it was certainly interesting to try.

Sugar cane juice and coconut ice cream at Kem Bo, one of the street food market stalls in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — Sugar cane juice and coconut ice cream at Kem Bo, one of the street food market stalls.

Just across the road was a fresh spring roll stall. I think this was the least favourite dish for both myself and Pete. The texture was just a little too slimy (I prefer the crispy fried spring rolls) and the flavour was also bland. While we eating these, Dan went to a stall nearby and bought back some crispy rice paper based snack things, one had banana chips in and the other was coconut flavoured. Again, these were interesting to try but not things I’d rush to buy again.

Fresh spring rolls, followed by banana and coconut rice paper snacks.

It was then back to the scooters and a short drive to Bánh Xèo Ngọc Sơn, a restaurant that specialises in pancakes filled with prawns and pork. We watched them make the pancakes at the front of the shop. They seemed to be throwing the prawns in whole, with their shells on, so we were a little surprised to find peeled prawns in ours – perhaps Logan had asked them to do this especially for the Western tourists. Logan showed us how to eat the pancakes – you wrap them in lettuce and various other foliage before dipping in the fish sauce based dip. I actually preferred the pancakes just on their own with the dip (Logan assured me this was also a perfectly respectable way to enjoy them) – after all, you don’t win friends with salad!

Crispy pancakes filled with prawns and pork at Bánh Xèo Ngọc Sơn, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — Crispy pancakes filled with prawns and pork at Bánh Xèo Ngọc Sơn.

Our final savoury stop was for Bahn Bot Chien, washed down by a nice cold beer. I preferred the version we’d had from the street food market in Can Tho, although I must admit I was struggling a bit by this point, which may have affected my enjoyment – by this point we’d had a lot of food!

Bahn Bot Chien, unfortunately not as nice as the one we’d had at Can Tho night market.

It was finally time for dessert, a Vietnamese flan type thing at Thế Giới Tàu Hũ. The cafe was so busy, we ended up sitting outside on the balcony. It was quite nice overlooking the street below. I was so full at this point, I could only manage a couple of spoonfuls, but Pete heroically finished it off for me.

Our Vietnamese flan dessert at Thế Giới Tàu Hũ.

We travelled back to our hostel on the back of the scooters and slept very well after all that food!

Vietnam Day 6 – Ho Chi Minh and the Cu Chi tunnels

Friday 28th October 2022

Today we had an early start as we got picked up at 7.30am for our tour to Cu Chi tunnels, which I booked via Facebook. We met Long, our tour guide (or friend, as he preferred to be called), and I was immediately impressed by how fluent his English was. As we drove in the minibus to pick up other passengers, we chatted and I was surprised when he said visiting the UK or US was unfortunately not an option for him, as his government were very strict at issuing visas, apparently due to fears that citizens may run away and not return to Vietnam. He was very open and honest and was happy to answer any questions – as long as they were asked within the safety of the minibus.

It’s quite a long drive to the Cu Chi tunnels, so we stopped along the way at Sơn Mài Lâm Phát, a handicrafts place where all the workers are handicapped as a result or the Vietnam War, either due to land mines or the effects of agent orange. We walked through the centre and watched them at work, producing beautiful lacquer paintings inlaid with mother of pearl and eggshells. The works were expensive, but 60% of the profits go towards supporting disabled and handicapped people. If it wasn’t for our tight luggage restrictions (we’ll have several budget airline flights during our travels, so are limited to a meagre 7kg total weight) we may well have purchased something to take home.

We arrived at the tunnels and Long led us to a patch of inconspicuous looking earth under a tree. It was quite remarkable when the leaves were brushed aside to reveal a hidden entrance to a (very small) tunnel! Long asked for volunteers to go inside. After the initial silence, Pete (ever enthusiastic) was the first to volunteer. I think he was very disappointed to be told “no, you won’t fit”. It was probably for the best, as the middle aged Australian guy, with a considerably smaller paunch, got stuck! Luckily Pete was on hand to help hoist him out (he fortunately has the strength to match his size), to which Long looked visibly relieved. You can see from my photos below, it’s a tight squeeze for the average westerner – even a fairly petite girl like myself felt quite snug!

The hidden Vietcong tunnel entrance, that not all Western tourists can fit into (and a lot don’t fancy even trying!)

The next stop on the tour was an American tank, which had basically been captured and kept as a trophy. Long explained to us that the Vietcong made good use of it – using the battery to provide electricity, bombs and weapons to take and modify for weapons of their own, and some of the metal for various other uses.

Long also explained some of the numertraps set by the Vietcong, all of which sounded very unpleasant and mainly involved various bamboo spikes or nails carefully arranged to cause maximum pain and damage when an unsuspecting American fell in.

After the tank, we got to enter a tunnel that everyone in the group could fit into. Apparently it’s been enlarged (and also had lighting and ventilation fitted) especially for tourists. Even with those modifications, it felt pretty claustrophobic, so I hate to imagine what it must’ve been like for the Vietcong (especially with bombs going off etc!). Along the tunnel, there were exit points every 20 metres. Long said he was impressed most of our group made it to 80 metres, as apparently the majority of tourists bail out after just 20 metres. It’s worth going the full stretch, as you get to go a bit deeper underground.

After crawling along the tunnel it was time to see the kitchen. It’s cleverly built so the smoke has to travel through underground chambers before it’s released outside, meaning it’s cooled down and stays close to the ground where it’s less visible. They also tended to cook very early in the morning, so the smoke is hidden by the morning mists.

We then got to try some of the Vietcong food – boiled tapioca. Extremely bland and very dry tasting. Apparently this was pretty much the only food they ate (sometimes supplementing by dog meat, when they managed to capture and kill the US army sniffer dogs…..)

This concluded our trip, and we drove back to Ho Chi Minh City. It was fascinating seeing the tunnels, and Long’s commentary and stories definitely added to the experience. We are dropped off near the War Remnants Museum, so went to have a look inside.

In the courtyard outside are various US army planes and tanks, which were cool to look at. Inside was interesting but a bit depressing. The ground floor was all about opposition to the war, both within the US and in other countries around the world. The higher floors mainly showed the horrendous effects of US bombing and soldiers massacring entire villages, with an entire room dedicated to agent orange. I had no idea the effects were so long lasting, even today children are being born with disabilities and missing limbs due to the genetic effects being passed down through generations. The photos were all very graphic and very moving.

Planes and tanks outside of the War Remnants Musuem

A smaller neighbouring building told the story of the political prisons, and the various torture methods and punishments the US used. Again, it was interesting but not the most uplifting experience.

As we exited the museum a guy selling coconuts jokingly made Pete carry them for him. I think we quite enjoyed the experience, and we did feel a little bad for one purchasing one (which is obviously what the vendor wanted, but we didn’t particularly want one).

Pete helping a local coconut seller carrying his wares.

We walked to Ben Thanh Market, a very famous Saigon market and popular tourist destination. To be honest, I’m sure not sure what all the fuss is about. It felt very touristy (perhaps unsurprisingly) and you couldn’t take two steps without being pestered by pretty much every stall owner.

Ben Thanh Market, which I wouldn’t particularly recommend for a visit.

Across the road was a Bahn Mi seller, cooking some balls on sticks on a grill. They smelt really good. Plus it was late afternoon and we’d not really eaten, so we got one to share. I think it was some kind of fish, but whatever it was was very tasty (not quite as good as yesterday’s though)

The grilled fish (I think…) ball Bahn mi.

About 10 minutes down the road, we passed another Bahn mi seller with a huuuuge queue of locals, as well as a constant stream of motorcycles coming to collect takeaways. Ok, this must be good, we couldn’t not give it a go.

We got one to share, and it didn’t disappoint! Definitely the top Bahn mi of our trip so far, some kind of grilled pork I think.

We then continued to Bui Vien Walking Street. It’s apparently famous, and we thought it’d be a good place to get an early evening drink. From the name Walking Street, I was expecting a very pedestrian friendly road. But no, there was the usual melee of motorcycles. We grabbed a beer at Cà Phê Lá Vàng, it’s got three floors so we went to the top and watched the street life below.

Bui Vien Walking Street and the view from Cà Phê Lá Vàng.

We then went across the road to Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang for dinner. The restaurant only serves noodle soups, and they were very good soups!

Vietnam Day 5 – first impressions of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Thursday 27th October 2022

Yesterday was a long (but very fun!) day, up at 4am and didn’t get to bed until 1am. So we had a bit of a lazy morning, and didn’t leave the hostel until 10.30am when we went to get our bus. Ngoc, our tour guide from yesterday, had very kindly booked our tickets for us. Although we could’ve done it ourself online, the bus tickets include a free shuttle to the bus station and there’s no way we’d have managed that with our non-existent Vietnamese. We also realised that a lot of buses go to Saigon rather than Ho Chi Minh City, apparently the central districts are more commonly referred to as Saigon, with Ho Chi Minh City meaning the much wider city area.

We picked up some water, then walked to the main road to patiently wait for our shuttle. We had no idea what it looked like, and I was starting to get a little anxious when there was still no sign of it 5 minutes after it was due. However, shortly after this a mini bus drew up and took us to the bus station, where we went to the ticket counter to purchase our tickets. It seems that in Vietnam it’s quite common to book/reserve tickets, but then you don’t pay for them until you get to the bus station. The Can Tho bus station is quite big, so it was very helpful that the bus tickets were printed will the full details of our journey, including the registration number of the bus.

We then had a bit of a wait before we boarded the bus. We travelled with Phương Trang – FUTA Bus Lines, and again it was a sleeper bus and we had to remove our shoes before boarding. This bus was fancier than the one we got from Ha Tien to Can Tho, and the seats/beds had curtains across them so you had more privacy.

We had wanted to book seats on the bottom level, but ended up on the top, which meant there was a lot of swaying from side to side as we drove through the bumpy streets of Can Tho. Once we’d left the city, the highways were in good condition and so it was a smooth ride for most of the journey. The bus was also air conditioned and had wi fi so it was a pleasant enough journey.

Phương Trang – FUTA Bus shuttle and bus from Can Tho to Saigon. The sleeper bus was very comfortable.

We stopped at a bus station along the way. As we couldn’t understand the announcement (which was in Vietnamese), we had no idea how long we’d be there for. I got off the bus to use the toilets (which were very clean), and then quickly rushed back to the bus. It seemed no one else was in a hurry to board, so I got some dong from Pete, then went back into the bus station to get us some snacks – a Bahn Bao (or steamed bun) and some fried poppy seed rice paper cracker things.

The steamed bao wasn’t as nice as some of the Asian ones I’ve had, but it was interesting. As well as meat, it had whole quail eggs inside of it. The rice paper crackers were pleasant enough, but a bit bland. They’d have gone very well with a sweet chilli or mango chutney dip.

At the bus station was the typical throng of taxi drivers to greet us. Phương Trang / FUTA also seemed to have their own branded taxis. They also provided a free shuttle into Saigon centre (district 1), so we got on that and then got a Grab to our hostel once we arrived.

We stayed at the Phan Anh Backpackers Hostel, which is centrally located in district 1. It was excellent value, the room was clean with air conditioning and a fridge, and this is the first place with we’ve stayed with a proper shower cubicle that doesn’t flood the entire bathroom.

We dropped off our bags then set out to explore, and also to see if we could Pete’s sunglasses repaired. The coating was coming off the lenses, and there were two official Polaroid stockists nearby.

Close to our hostel was Bánh mì chả cá nóng, a little street vendor selling some kind of deep fried fish Bahn mi and which had a queue of motorcycles getting takeaway. We decided to follow the lead of the locals, and ordered one to share – our first Bahn mi (or at least filled Bahn mi) of our trip, and it was delicious!

Our first taste of Bahn Mi – some kind of fried fish – was delicious

Next we tried to navigate the traffic, which as expected was pretty crazy! Much busier than Can Tho, and quite a few of the motorcycles took to using the pavements and beeping at pedestrians to get out if their way!

We managed to navigate to the two Polaroid shops, but it was a less successful trip. The first couldn’t help and the second was either closed or had ceased to exist.

It then started to rain, very heavily. So we sheltered under a conveniently placed umbrella and ordered a Grab to Pizza 4P’s Ben Thanh. Yes, I know….eating pizza in Vietnam should be frowned upon, but it’s one of the most highly rated restaurants on google and has a wood fired oven.

They do half and half pizzas so we ordered one with a Vietnamese name (some kind of Vietnamese style beef) and a miso scallop with broccoli. The scallop pizza was lovely, but I was a little disappointed by the beef. It was more of a rich beef stew, tasty enough but not as much of a Vietnamese flavour as I was expecting.

We followed this with a second pizza, this time four mushrooms, with extra Parma ham on one side, and garlic and soy beef on the other. The mushroom one was excellent, definitely my favourite of the four flavours.

By this time the rain had stopped and it was getting late, so we walked back to the hostel and went to bed.

Vietnam Day 4 – an early start for the floating markets

Wednesday 26th October 2022

Today we got picked up by taxi at 5am, as we’d booked a tour to the floating markets. We were originally meant to be picked up from the end of the road, but the flood waters were already high and the road was underwater, so we would have had very wet feet!

The taxi driver kept stopping every time he drove through a flooded area, I’m not sure exactly what he was doing, maybe just checking the car had survived!

We reached the pier, boarded the boat, and set off down the river in the early morning twilight.

Setting off down the Mekong Delta in the early morning twilight.

It wasn’t long before the river started getting busier. Ngoc, our tour guide, explained that you can tell what each boat is selling by their mast. We looked up, and all the masts were skewering various different fruits and vegetables! We had reached the famous Cai Rang floating market.

A boat soon pulled up alongside us, laden with various types of drinks. I’m not a big coffee drinker, big you can’t go to Vietnam without trying the traditional Cà Phê Sữa Đá (iced coffee, made with condensed milk). It was nice, very sweet though.

Next up was the pineapple boat, a floating pineapple wholesalers. We got to board the boat, and watch as the woman prepared a couple of pineapples for us to take with us for our breakfast.

Before the pineapple, we first had to have the savoury course. Luckily there’s another boat preparing exactly that – pork rice noodle soup to be precise. Apparently the one that Ngoc took us to us the best on the Mekong Delta. Which I can easily understand as there was a bit of a queue to be served. As we were waiting, boats kept squeezing through, basically forcing their way in between boats where previously there was no gap. At times it caused a lot of rocking from side to side!

After breakfast we went to the land market onshore. I could see the Israeli girl on our trip looking less and less impressed as Ngoc explained we may see a lot of blood. And skinned rats. And skinned frogs that jump – although they are dead, apparently it’s the nerves or something that twitch immediately after death. It’s a good thing though – it proves the produce is fresh!

The warning was well timed, as the first thing we saw upon disembarking the boat, was a big dish of skinned rats (I’m not sure I’d have recognised them, but Ngoc helpfully pointed them out). There was also a huge variety of fresh fruit and veg, and as we walked around (skilfully avoiding all the motorcycles that somehow squeezed their way through the narrow market streets!), Ngoc purchased a wide variety of interesting looking fruit.

The market was very interesting to wander around – although I’m not sure I was convinced by the skinned rats (in the top left photo)

Back to the boat, and another peaceful journey back through the market and on to a rice noodle factory. It was very similar to the process for making spring roll wrappers, that we’d previously seen in Cambodia, but on a much bigger scale.

Learning how rice noodles are made at the factory

We then continued further down the river, and then along a much smaller canal. It was very serene and beautiful, with no other boats in sight. At this point, Ngoc produced the fruit that she’d purchased at the market and we got to taste it – I can’t remember what they were all called, but think the purple fleshed dragonfruit was my favourite! Ngoc also explained to us how to tell the difference between the purple and white fleshed fruit. Ngoc also explained to us how to tell the difference (they both look very similar from the outside) – the purple dragonfruit has ears on the outside that are tightly curled.

We rounded a bend, and there a huge floating digger blocking our way! I assume it was dredging the canal. Luckily, our skilled boat driver deftly navigated around it.

We came across this big floating digger like machine – I assume it was dredging the canal.

Further down the canal we stopped for our next destination – an organic cacao farm. As we walked around the farm, Ngoc explained to us the process. We also got to taste some of the fruit from the cacoa bean. I was surprised at the taste, slightly sour and not at all chocolatey. I was also surprised to hear that cocoa cider was made as a byproduct, prior to the cocoa beans being dried out in the sun. We got to taste some of this cider (it wasn’t at all chocolatey tasting!), along with an iced cocoa drink at the end of the tour.

The iced cocoa at the organic cacao farm – it was delicious!

We walked back to our boat, sailed along the river, then met our taxi to go back to the hotel. I had a quick look at things to see and do in Can Tho and the Binh Thuy ancient house seemed to feature quite highly. So we ordered a grab car to take us there.

I’m not quite sure why it’s high up, as honestly I didn’t think it was worth the journey. It’s a beautiful house, and it was interesting to go inside, but there’s not all that much to it, and no audio guide or text descriptions to give any kind of context. There was quite a cool fountain shaped like a mountain with cute miniature houses outside though!

Next door was a little art gallery, free to enter, which I actually enjoyed more that the ancient house. If we’d had enough luggage space (we’re going to do several budget airline flights on this trip with 7kg limit), we’d probably have bought something to take back as a souvenir.

When we returned to the street outside, the flood waters has risen considerably. In fact, we were now pretty much stranded (unless we wanted to get wet feet, which we didn’t!) So we used our trusty Grab app to order a taxi. Or at least try to order one. Every time we attempted it said no cars available, not sure if that was because everyone was now ordering them or if the cars were deliberately avoiding the area. We were just about to give up, and had resigned ourselves to retreating back to the ancient house and camping out on the steps for a couple of hours, when a car finally accepted. Needless to say, he got a good tip!

We almost got stranded by the floods – luckily we were able to call a Grab (the white car) to rescue us!

We went back to the Ninh Kieu Sky Bar that we’d been to on our first night, to have a couple of beers and watch the sunset.

View of the sunset from the Ninh Kieu Sky Bar.

We were hoping the flood waters would soon recede, so we could walk to Cửa Hàng Ăn Uống Thanh Xuân (the restaurant where we were meeting K and Alice for dinner). By 7.30pm, the roads were still looking pretty flooded so we decided to get another beer and then order a Grab. After a couple of false starts (the first two drivers were the other side of the flooded roads and wanted us to walk through the floods to get to them!) we walked in the general direction of the restaurant and found a regular taxi to take us. The taxi driver looked about 12 years old, and seemed very nervous of us, but he got us there in one piece and without us having to get wet feet!

Cửa Hàng Ăn Uống Thanh Xuân is a bbq restaurant, so the meat comes in various marinades, but raw, and you cook it yourself on a charcoal grill. Very fun! We ordered beef, squid, and goat. The goat was definitely my favourite – very succulent and tender, unlike the beef which was a little tough. The beer wasn’t chilled, but came with giant ice cubes. This seems to be quite common in Vietnam – if you don’t want to drink warm beer, you have to drink it with ice! I preferred the giant cubes though, as at least it dilutes the beer less than the small ones.

Our meaty feast at Cửa Hàng Ăn Uống Thanh Xuân.

After dinner, we got another Grab car to a karaoke bar. The karaoke places here are very cool and hi-tech. Each room has its own toilet, and also a big basket filled with snacks (which obviously you pay for if you eat). We ordered beer, and they bought in a huge crate of it, along with a big bucket filled with ice. Again, you just pay for what you consume. It ended up being super cheap – around £20 between the four of us, for a few hours karaoke, including some snacks and several beers. It was also such good fun! Hopefully we won’t regret it tomorrow morning – although we do have a long bus ride to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), so can always do the Vietnamese thing of having a daytime nap if we need to!

Vietnam Day 3 – a relaxing day in Can Tho

Tuesday 25th October 2022

Apparently the Vietnamese like to eat lunch early, around 11-11.30am. So we followed suit, and met K and Alice at Bánh Canh Xưa for an early lunch. That gave us a bit of time in the morning to plan our next stop, Ho Chi Minh, and then have a leisurely walk to the restaurant.

Bánh Canh Xưa is one of these places that basically does one dish, but does it well. In this case, either porridge or a noodle soup. There were a few variations, but we went for the one that includes everything – crab, shrimp, some deep fried porky things, quail egg, and possibly some other delectable ingredients I’ve since forgotten – and picked the noodle soup option. It was delicious, slightly sweet but also slightly spicy.

After lunch, Alice had to leave for work. Pete, K, and I went across the road to Vincom Plaza, a very modern, fancy shopping centre, to top up our water supplies and get Pete some very fetching superman sandals. Pete had only bought trainers with him, and we’d since found out they weren’t the most suitable footwear for Can Tho, a city that floods for about 4 hours each morning and about 4 hours each evening!

K took us for a walk over the Ninh Kieu pedestrian bridge, also known as the Love Bridge, an S-shaped bridge with some lotus flower shaped embellishments.

The Can Tho Love Bridge, with it’s giant lotus flower sculptures.

On the other side of the bridge, we walked along the waterfront until we reached mini beach. Apparently this is usually an actual beach, but as we’re in wet season and the tide was high, it was completely flooded with the water reaching right up to the terraced seating area. We had a couple of drinks here, while enjoying the views out over the river.

K has lessons starting at 5pm, so needed to leave us to go and get ready for work. Pete and I walked back into town, and had a quick look into the Canton Assembly Hall of Can Tho, a Chinese Taoist temple.

By this time the water was rising for the afternoon floods. We took a very convoluted route back to our hostel, to avoid having to wade through water along the way.

The water levels rise, so during the afternoon (4-7pm when we were there) some roads are completely flooded.

We’d had quite a filling lunch, and were also very much missing cooking, so decided to buy some fresh bread and eggs on our way back (the cooking facilities at the hostel were quite limited). We also picked up a couple of cold beers, then continued on our way.

We’d almost made it to the hostel avoiding wet feet, however the road that it’s on was completely underwater. Pete was very glad of his earlier plastic sandals purchase, and changed footwear at the side of the road. A very lovely lady offered me some green plastic flip flops to borrow. My sandals would’ve been ok, but they do have some fabric bits, so I took her up on the offer.

Back at the hostel, we had our scrambled eggs Bahn mi and beer, then to bed early – tomorrow we get picked up for our tour at 5am!

Our English-Vietnamese fusion dinner of scrambled egg Bahn mi

Vietnam Day 2 – feeding the greedy fish in Can Tho

Monday 24th October 2022

I was struggling to find online bus times from Ha Tien to Can Tho, so we’d asked our hotel for help. They let us know the available options and we’d decided to get the 9.45am bus. They also said they’d order us a taxi (for 60,000 VND, so only a couple of dollars) and to come down to reception around 9-9.10am. We were there at 9am, they ordered us a taxi, and we waited. And waited. By 9.15am we were starting to get a little anxious but were told it’s fine, the taxi will be here soon. It finally arrived at 9.25am….

We needn’t have worried though, it’s under 10 minutes drive to the bus station and took us literally 30 seconds to buy the ticket and board the bus (you just pay the bus driver).

It was a bit of an odd bus! Even though it was mid morning and only a 4-5hr journey, the seats were actually beds. Three rows of single seats, in double decker format (so 3 rows at the bottom, 3 at the top). You also have to take your shoes off before you board, and we were each handed a little green plastic bag to put them in.

It was a pleasant enough journey, if a little bumpy at times and with the occasional very sharp breaking (which at one point caused a few things to fly down the aisle to the front of the bus!). The bus also stopped at various places to pick up massive parcels and drop off deliveries – it seemed to be a courier and bus service rolled into one.

The boy sitting in front of Pete took a serious shine to him. He spoke no English, so the conversation consisted of Pete pointing at himself and saying “I’m Peter, you?”, “my name’s Peter, you are?” and several other variations (including using google translate at one point), and the boy then pointing at himself and repeating “Peter”. At which point, Pete resorted to giving him high fives and fist bumps. As the journey went on, he started climbing over the back of his seat and touching Pete’s legs. I suspect what he really wanted was a hug (Pete is very cuddly!), and his parents didn’t seem bothered in the slightest that he was practically climbing into the lap of a strange man.

We were very happy to find that Grab works in Can Tho, so could walk past / politely decline the throng of motorcycle taxis that came to greet us at the bus station, and order a Grab car to the Welkom Inn hostel, where we were staying. We dropped our bags off, and arranged to meet K and Alice, a couple of friends of ours who have been living in Can Tho and teaching English for the last couple of years. They suggested Cafe cá KOI, so we ordered another Grab car to take us there. While waiting for the Grab, I saw my first dog on a motorcycle! He had his cute little paws on the handlebars, but unfortunately I wasn’t quite quick enough to get a photo (there was a human sitting behind him of course, but it was still impressive!)

Cafe cá KOI was a weird and wonderful place, with the tables basically round islands in a huge fish pond!

Cafe cá KOI, where all the tables are surrounded by fish!

Although Cafe cá KOI serves food, they don’t do so mid afternoon, which is when we arrive. Alice had ordered some takeaway (apparently they don’t mind people bringing in outside food) – a veritable feast consisting of the Vietnamese take on Korean food, deep fried sushi, rice bowls, and some interesting chewy rice cakes in a spicy sauce covered with cheese.

After we’d eaten, it was time to feed to fish with little baby bottles filled with fish food (yes, you heard that right!), a very fun if slightly surreal experience.

Feeding the fish with babies bottles

I took a photo of the outside of Cafe cá KOI as we left, it looked quite pretty lit up in the dark.

It was now early evening, so our next stop was Ninh Kieu Sky Bar for cocktails with a view. The city looked beautiful lit up at night.

View over Can Tho from the Ninh Kieu Sky Bar

After a couple of drinks, we walked down to the night market to sample some of the street food. My favourite was probably the first dish we tried. We didn’t have a clue what it was, but later learnt it was fried rice flour cakes with egg (banh bot chien).

The night market with its yummy street food.

By this time it was getting late, so we said goodbye to K and Alice and went back to our hotel.

The Ha Tien border crossing – Farewell Cambodia, Good morning Vietnam

Sunday 23rd October 2023

I couldn’t find any public transport options to take us up to (or through) the Ha Tien border crossing into Vietnam. So we got a tuk tuk – yesterday’s driver had agreed to do it for $12 and it’s around a 45 minute journey.

I was a little apprehensive about the border crossing, as had read some horror stories of corrupt border officials demanding money for various made up things. When we arrived, we were immediately accosted by a guy on a motorbike who wanted to take us to our hotel at the other side – I have no idea how he was planning on fitting both of us plus our big rucksacks on his bike! We declined and after some persistence managed to get rid of him!

We walked to the border crossing, where a couple of guards sat on a table outside. Showed them our passports, they flicked through, handed them back, then ushered us through the gate.

Once inside it wasn’t immediately clear where we were meant to go. Someone pointed us inside a building, which looked like an abandoned airport security area. We walked past the dusty security scanners to a desk with a border official, and waited as he took his time to give us an exit stamp for Cambodia.

Then it was back out the building, and down a strip of what I think much have been no man’s land (we’d officially exited Cambodia but not yet entered Vietnam). More motorbikes approached, again wanting to take us to our hotel, and drive slowly alongside us as we repeatedly said no thank you.

After a couple of minutes walk, we reached another gate where a Vietnamese border guard was checking passports. On the other side we’re two buildings, it wasn’t at all obvious where we were meant to go but we eventually figured out the one on the right hand side of the road was for entry to Vietnam (with the left hand side building used for those exiting the country).

Inside the building was a single guy behind a glass panel, who was on the phone. We patiently waited. Then a local came in, cut in front of us, and pushed their ID card through the window. A couple of minutes later, another local did the same. The border guard ignored us all, and continued his phone call. After a few minutes, although still on the phone, he processed the ID cards that had been pushed through and those people left. We passed through our passports, displayed our e-visas on our phone, and got our stamps. It was actually very quick and easy!

Behind the next desk, was someone checking Covid vaccination status. This is the first time we’d been asked for proof of vaccination, but we both had our NHS passes to hand. He briefly glanced at them, then filled in a form which we had to sign and then tore off the bottom section (which was handed back to us with our passports).

Next we had to put our bags through the security scanner. The guy wandered off as they were half way through, so we weren’t quite sure what to do. We loitered for a minute in case he came back (he didn’t) and then made the assumption we could continue on our way.

Outside was a gate to exit the border crossing compound, and yet another passport and visa check. This one only took a few seconds, and then we had officially entered Vietnam! It was actually very quick (no queues at all) and stress free.

Just past the border, we were immediately surrounded by people trying to get us to take very over-priced motorbikes or taxis (mainly motorbikes though! There was only one taxi) into town. We were going to use Grab, but after finding out it doesn’t work in Ha Tien were forced to negotiate with them (we didn’t fancy the 3km walk in the midday heat, with all our luggage). We agreed on 200,000 VND, about $8 and 3 times as much as it should’ve cost but we didn’t have a lot of choice.

We checked into Sele House, where we were staying. This was definitely one of the nicer places we’ve stayed (it had proper air conditioning and both the room and bathroom were large and clean), but also one of the most expensive at £18 for the night.

After dropping our bags, and having a little catch up on our blogs, we set our to explore Ha Tien. It’s a little seaside town, so first we walked down to the sea and walked along the water.

We then made our way towards the central market area. It was quite interesting to wander around, so many different types of different fresh produce (including some huuuuge grapes, which we later returned to buy a bunch!).

There was some intermittent rain – not torrential, but very big drops and the air felt very humid, so we went in search of a cafe or bar to get a drink and relax. This was harder than it sounds. The whole town was practically deserted and even the places that said they were open didn’t appear to be serving. We eventually found somewhere, bought a couple of soft drinks, and chilled out for a short while.

We’d not eaten yet today so went for an early dinner. By this time, the town was starting to liven us. We later learned that afternoon is nap time, and no one really goes out or does anything then – everyone does things early morning or in the evening to avoid the heat of the daytime sun.

We ate at Hủ tiếu mì Hà My, a place with no menu (or possibly it was in Vietnamese so they knew we wouldn’t understand it) and no English. The owner grabbed a handful of noodles and gestured to us, we nodded. He held up two fingers, we nodded. A little while later, two bowls of steaming hot broth with noodles and beef (and possibly some pork I think…) appeared in front of us. The broth was delicious – very light and fragrant. The beef was big chunks of meat, bone, fat, gristle and all. It was very tender though.

Our delicious noodle soup at Hủ tiếu mì Hà My

Just round the corner from Hủ tiếu mì Hà My is a little shop selling Bahn Mi. They also appear to be a bakery. There were huge queues of people and constant streams of motorbikes arriving, and most people left with huge bags of bread rolls. As it was so popular, we decided to give it a go. I’m glad we did, the bread was hot from the outside and some of the best bread I’ve tasted. This place isn’t on google maps, clearly just a shop for locals, but you’ll recognise it by the long queues outside.

We then walked back to our hotel for an early night. Tomorrow morning we get the bus to Can Tho.