Vietnam: Ho Chi Mihn City

Finally! In Vietnam, and a highly and long awaited reunion with CARMEN!! Carm is my roommate from university, but furthermore, a fantastic and lifelong friend! We made a dramatic reuniting of course, especially at 11pm when everyone was a tad groggy! Getting into the city (Ho Chi Mihn) from the airport was a tad sketchy, and I was happy to have Carmen with me. We did some bartering, as we knew how much it should cost. Dark arrivals are never welcoming, but we did our best to be smart about our surroundings and our belongings. We made it to our hotel, safe and sound…but the best part is, that we met up on the street with a friend of a friend, Andrew. We had been corresponding with him over the last few weeks for questions, concerns. He was just coming back to the hotel to get something, and we said … “ Carmen??” Ah, small world. He helped us get to our hotel and we spent the whole night chatting and playing catch up (Carm was a bit of a zombie…with such few hours of shut eye!) J
My friends Wendy and Jen warned me…when you try to cross the road…you have to walk side by side…not single file because motorbikes zoom by you, all around you. No stop lights or cross walks. This. Is True. We laughed and took a run for it each time…counting our blessings as we got to the others side haha. First thing in the morning we were bombarded every which way by vendors…selling sunglasses, photocopied Lonley Planet guide books, QTibs, Ponchos…anything. We did our best to be polite, and made it to an Omlette place. Okay, everywhere you go, there are street vendors. Selling YUMMY iced coffee, Pho noodles, Meat on a stick, kabobs. You MUST turn a blind eye to germs. Ha our omelettes were from a stand where the lady cracked the eggies on some little pan, handled money, at the same time and wrapped our bun in newsprint haha. Your tolerance is higher if you just pretend germs do not exist. Lol. And this is exactly what we did. We didn’t want to miss out on experiencing the REAL Vietnam!
We went to the war museum…learning more about the war. Reminds me a lot of North Korea/South Korea. We learned about the US and Russia fighting by proxy at first, sending amo to the country to support. We learned about the US dropping Agent Orange on the country…without knowing the long lasting effects of birth defects and genetic problems that would continue to exists many, many years after wars end. The museum was from the perspective of the north…therefore carving the US pretty hard. Either way, if you can look at it objectively…you can learn a lot. I continue to count my blessings for being from a country that is at peace, and basically always have been. Visiting south east asia, living in Korea. We are damned lucky as Canadians. Damn lucky.
Later we explored some Markets, the Ben Tham…lots of knock offs and some Vietnamese art, like egg shell art. We met up with some of Andrews friends (he is a teacher here) and we had some wicked vegetarian meal ($4 What the heck!) Mmm. I met some of his Vietnamese friends and a cutie from Korea, Kuk Hee, who is studying here! She’s super sweet.
The following day we went to the Cu Chi tunnels, built by the North to invade the South. Meters of underground tunnels that tourists can go into. Very claustrophobic, but really neat experience.
We did a wee walking tour with Andrew to see the rest of the city, enjoyed some local Saigon beer and went kareoking with his teacher friends! We were sad to leave some new friends…but continued our journey west-ward to Cambodia on a 6 hour bus….

Us crossing the street! ha ha Press play