Friday/Saturday 30/31 October 2015

Preparations……..The main task in preparation for this Vietnam tour is to sort out currency. With the Thai Baht strengthening against the UK Pound in recent weeks, I held off converting currency but now I have little option. I decide to take currency of US Dollars and Vietnamese Dong with me. At least I know the rate is fair. One final task before I leave is to give remembrance to my mum who passed away on this day in 2008. I simply need to place a candle in a convenient spot and in a temple near my residence seems an obvious place but things have a habit of getting more involved and I end up at a Wat Phrayasuren about 6 km away. Being a weekend it’s quite busy and within the temple grounds is a floating market on Bueng Phraya Suren. You could easily spend a few hours here but let’s review this location later and get back to the tour in hand.

Sunday 01 November 2015

AirAsia Flight FD 650........Unfortunately I need to wake early this morning. The flight to Ho Chi Minh City is a real bargain but the downside is that I need to be at the airport and check-in by 6.45am. That means waking up at around 4am. Other than that, things are straightforward. Flight FD 650 departs from Don Meuang International Airport on time, the journey about an hour and a half. The aircraft heads south avoiding the airspace around Suvarnabhumi Airport and down the eastern coastline of the Gulf of Thailand. I’m unable to give further commentary; I’m soon fast asleep. When I awake the Airbus is starting its decent. I figure that Vietnam will be an hour ahead so I should arrive at my pre-booked hotel before lunch but to my surprise there’s no time difference. The flight touches down at around 9.15am. Baggage claim and immigration will take another hour but is quite painless as Vietnam now allows free visa entry for UK and a number of other European citizens for up to 15 days. With that formality over the next is actually to get into the city. It is the most stressful part of the day and even the tour.

Kim Khoi Hotel……..On my last trip to Vietnam I didn’t book a room. That changed my thinking for future destinations outside of Thailand and that experience was not comfortable one. The hotel was booked nearly two months ago and a lot of thought gone into its location and how to reach it. Really it was a piece of logic in the end. I just went with the flow. Vietnam is still a country with a bad reputation for rip-offs and scams so I paid particular attention to the type of transport I would use. The obvious choice was the local bus but could I find it. On exiting the airport I avoid all eye contact with taxi drivers and concentrate on the signboards. Yeh! That works. Follow the sign that says ‘bus’ right? Bus 152 goes right into the city and U turns at Ben Thanh bus station. It then turns back along Pham Ngu Lao Road where my hotel is located. Sure the short wheel base city bus gives a rocky ride but I’m really impressed by the bus driver and conductor with their efforts to advise tourists on drop offs despite the language barrier. I end up with a little walk but with not too much effort in locating Kim Khoi Hotel. The hard bit is over. When I arrive it’s just after 11am and I’m not expecting to check-in straight away. It’s earlier than expected. The receptionist explains that the room is not ready but I can leave my luggage. I’m just about to go out for a early lunch when she explains that there is a larger room available now if I want it. It’s $3 more per night. With the ease with which I’ve reached Kim Khoi at virtually no cost, my spirits are up and I’ll pay the extra. Now it’s time for an early lunch.
Koh San road or not?.......As I wander round, it’s clear I’m in the backpacking area of Ho Chi Minh City which reminds me a lot of Koh San road in Bangkok. It has everything nearby: Cafes, restaurants, bars, tourist agents etc. I can see it’s going to work for me. The most obvious difference is the oversell. The side streets packed with restaurants send their staff scurrying around looking for custom. It’s hard to pause somewhere to check a menu without being solicited but I get the general idea and that’s all about customer service here. I’ve never seen anywhere with so much selection on menus. It’s quite mind boggling. For all this there’s not much selection if you’re just looking for a snack meal as there is in Thailand. Perhaps this is the wrong place but you can’t argue with the price of a Saigon beer. Within the next hour I manage to work my way around some of the travel agents and draw up a plan for tomorrow and for my return to Ho Chi Minh next week. I didn’t think it would be that easy. Those plans include nothing for the rest of the day and I rest up until late afternoon.
Ben Thanh……..Ben Thanh is a central district of Ho Chi Minh City. It serves as a transport hub, is convenient to the Pham Ngu Lao backpacker district, has the quite popular Ben Thanh market and is an area popular with locals to just have a good night out. As I head out in the direction of the market it sure is busy and something that hasn’t changed from my experience in Hanoi is the total free for all chaos with cars, buses, motorcycles and pedestrians all competing for space. More and more restaurants, travel agents and hotels come into view until I reach Ben Thanh Market. Here there is a huge complex of shops selling goods of every description. Unlike some markets in Thailand there is more space between rows. It’s a great shopping experience as there’s just about everything here you could imagine with much it consisting of souvenir and gift shops. One feature of this market is lack of fixed pricing with bargaining the usual option for foreign tourists. I’m skeptical based on what I’ve read and come away with nothing. Still it’s an interesting feature in the capital.

Going vegetarian…….. As it gets dark I look around for something to call dinner and a traditional Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant grabs my attention. I don’t really know why I go for it. Surely I’m not going for the healthy eating lark! Spring rolls are almost staple food in Vietnam so we’ll try that. While I do struggle with getting a good flavour balance right, I can say that my experience with this can be best described as experimental. On the way back to Kim Khoi I enquire at other travel agencies. Shopping around is clearly the way to go here but I stick with the booking for tomorrow. Finally I buy of bottle of Vietnamese wine from Dalat, my next destination. That cost me 88,000 dong, about $4. In Ben Thanh Market the starting price was 150,000 dong. All in all I think the day’s done very well and that’s all that matters. Next Page.