Our trip from Kampot to Saigon was a long one but probably one of the more comfortable ones we've had when we finally got going. Our pick up was to be at 9.30 but as we've come to expect it didn't arrive until 10.15 and it was a tuk tuk which already had two other people in it along with their backpacks! I'm not sure how, but we managed to fit at the drivers insistence bags an' all. We didn't go far, only to the otherside of town where we'd to wait for a mini van to take us to the Vietnamese border an hour away. Our sardine can (mini van) arrived with roughly 20 hot and bothered 'sardines' along with their backpacks stuffed inside and there was 6 of us waiting to board! Thankfully some of the passengers unfolded themselves and were off loaded at Kampot as their final destination. It was a tight squeeze but it was only until the remaining passengers were dropped at Kep a short drive away.
After the drop off at Kep we headed to the border and the crossing was very straight forward. The bus driver took our passports and dealt with the officials while we waited patiently in the heat before heading to the town of Hat Tien for our coach. The coach was a real surprise, a sleeper bus but much more luxurious than what we'd experienced in Cambodia. It had three rows of single seats which reclined almost completely without hampering the person behind you and two bunks, it even had WiFi!
8 hours later at about 10 at night we finally arrived at the main bus station in Ho Chi Minh/Saigon to get a shuttle into the city and then a taxi to our hotel which was down an alley. It all sounds very complicated but it was very easy really, we thought we'd get lost trying to find the hotel but the numering of the alleys does make it fairly easy. Our taxi driver had no English so we just asked him to drop us in District 1, thankfully where he stopped was a very short walk to our alley.
Our first impression of the city was that it was a party town. We stayed in the centre and were thankful to be down an alley away from the loud music at night. The streets were packed with both locals and tourists with many sitting on the foot paths drinking beer. We wadded through the crowds for a bite to eat before hitting the sack ready to explore the city the next day.
We headed out early the next morning in the scorching heat to the independence palace which was a short walk away. On the way we walked through several parks, Tao Dan Park being the largest, once you move away from the main bar and restaurant area the city is quite green and we were thankful for the shade offered by the trees through the parks. Walking through the parks we came across several out door gyms similar to the one we came across in Phnom Penh, its obviously a common thing on this side of the world.
We'd obviously become a little too relaxed in Kampot and were promptly reminded on our way to the palace what it's like being back in the city again. A very friendly coconut seller with his shoulder shop (a bamboo with baskets on either end carried across the shoulders) got the better of us. He approached and placed the bamboo across Shane's shoulder and told me take a photo, we quickly realised he was going to ask for money and were willing to tip but he insisted we buy two coconuts. You buy fresh coconuts everywhere here for the coconut milk which neither of us are very fond of but lesson learnt and we moved onto the palace.
Independence Palace also known as Reunification Palace is a very modern building and not at all what you'd expect. It's very 1960's American, with meeting rooms on the ground floor, reception rooms on the first and various entertainment rooms on the second including a cinema and on the top floor it even has a nightclub and heli pad. While the whole building is quite airy and the meeting rooms and reception rooms are quite grand the most interesting part was the bunker. It's just like you see in war movies with the telecommunications centre with several telephones lined up and the war room with all the maps on the wall. The last part of the visit was the replica tanks which stormed the palace on 30th April 1975 and a replica of the fighter jet that dropped the bombs on the palace.
We'd spent almost 4 hours in the palace and weren't able for much after this so headed for the hotel only to end up speaking to some Vietnamese students in the park. Students hang around the park and approach tourists and ask them if they can spare some time to chat to them so they can practise their English and learn about other cultures. The group we spoke with do this about 3 times a week and were all between the ages of 18 and 23. They were quite prepared, they ask where you're from and have laminates of each country which show a map of the country with various land marks on a couple of pictures of things they associate with that country which wasn't the most accurate to be honest and didn't show the typical things Ireland is associated with.
The map and the land marks wasn't too bad but we didn't recognise the pictures. One showed a castle surrounded by water which meant nothing to us and another showed men in kilts. We explained what a kilt was and that it was more of a Scottish thing and asked if they'd ever heard of Guinness and they hadn't. It was difficult to try and explain that Guinness was a stout, on this side of the world beer is the main alcoholic drink apart from spirits, they don't even have cider but they took a note and were going to look into it later. Before you ask no we didn't mention leprechauns, we didn't even think of it to be fair. They asked us about our relegion and what we did for a living and what the main industries were in Ireland and they were surprised that fishing isn't a bigger industry. I think they'd assumed because we're an island fishing would be the main industry. One of them thought we even hunted dolphin! I'm not sure where they got this information but we were quick to put them right.
In return for our time they told us a bit about Vietnam and the city, providing us with a map which they marked with the best restaurants and main tourist attractions. After about an hour thet gave us each a Vietnamese scarf as a thank you for talking to them and after a quick photo we left for some dinner before the night market that night.
The following day was a bit of a waste, we went on two wild goose chases or even three depending on your out look. We'd intended on visiting the war remnants museum but decided as we were in a large city we'd see if we could get my phone fixed. Address of the Nokia service centre in hand off we went on foot. We did find what we're fairly sure was the correct address having checked we were in the right place with some locals but there was no sign of Nokia service centre, we walked the block and eventually have up and headed back to the main part of town for an early lunch.
The museum wasn't open for the afternoon until 1.30 so we thought we'd browse through the market on the way and go and have a look in the Puma outlet store which we thought wasn't far from the museum as Shane was in need of some decent trainers. We walked and we walked and we walked and eventually found it after about 40 minutes of being on the correct street. It was on the opposite end and in no way worth the effort particularly in the heat!
In the hopes of getting something from the day we headed back to go to the museum only to arrive and it be closed, due to a power cut. Shane at this point very hot and tired would not accept "just closed" as a suitable response so requested the security guy who couldn't speak much English to get someone to come out and explain why they were closed.
We wrote off the day and decided after all the walking we deserved a cold beer and found a bar and had an early one before heading back to the hotel to meet Linda that night who was flying in from Hoi An.
After a catch up over dinner we'd a fairly early night in the hopes of having a more successful day the next. With the three of us back together again we discussed our plan for the next few days over breakfast and decided to use the morning to organise our travel plans and hotels etc. Before heading to the war remnants museum for the afternoon.
The museum is very one sided but more than any museum I've ever been too shows how war effects innocent people more than anything else. I was surprised to see that much of the information comes from US sources. The ground floor is an exhibit of the antiwar support from round the world, while the upper floors tell the story of the war and those effected. It doesn't just talk about the historic effects of the war but also the effect agent Orange in particular still continues to have on the current population. The last exhibit on the top floor is a collection of photographs from legendary photographers such as Larry Burrows.
At this point myself and Linda were at saturation point so we left Shane to wonder the various military machines outside and headed to a bar close by and waited for Shane.
I had to have a look at the impressive selection of war vehicles outside including a F-5A fighter jet, an A-37 Dragonfly and A-1 Skyraider attack bombers, Chinook & Huey helicopters, an M48 Patton tank as well as various other tanks, boats and artillery. (Shane)
We were pretty beat that evening so we had an early night before our bus journey to Mui Ne the next morning which was an early start.
After the drop off at Kep we headed to the border and the crossing was very straight forward. The bus driver took our passports and dealt with the officials while we waited patiently in the heat before heading to the town of Hat Tien for our coach. The coach was a real surprise, a sleeper bus but much more luxurious than what we'd experienced in Cambodia. It had three rows of single seats which reclined almost completely without hampering the person behind you and two bunks, it even had WiFi!
8 hours later at about 10 at night we finally arrived at the main bus station in Ho Chi Minh/Saigon to get a shuttle into the city and then a taxi to our hotel which was down an alley. It all sounds very complicated but it was very easy really, we thought we'd get lost trying to find the hotel but the numering of the alleys does make it fairly easy. Our taxi driver had no English so we just asked him to drop us in District 1, thankfully where he stopped was a very short walk to our alley.
Our first impression of the city was that it was a party town. We stayed in the centre and were thankful to be down an alley away from the loud music at night. The streets were packed with both locals and tourists with many sitting on the foot paths drinking beer. We wadded through the crowds for a bite to eat before hitting the sack ready to explore the city the next day.
We headed out early the next morning in the scorching heat to the independence palace which was a short walk away. On the way we walked through several parks, Tao Dan Park being the largest, once you move away from the main bar and restaurant area the city is quite green and we were thankful for the shade offered by the trees through the parks. Walking through the parks we came across several out door gyms similar to the one we came across in Phnom Penh, its obviously a common thing on this side of the world.
We'd obviously become a little too relaxed in Kampot and were promptly reminded on our way to the palace what it's like being back in the city again. A very friendly coconut seller with his shoulder shop (a bamboo with baskets on either end carried across the shoulders) got the better of us. He approached and placed the bamboo across Shane's shoulder and told me take a photo, we quickly realised he was going to ask for money and were willing to tip but he insisted we buy two coconuts. You buy fresh coconuts everywhere here for the coconut milk which neither of us are very fond of but lesson learnt and we moved onto the palace.
Independence Palace also known as Reunification Palace is a very modern building and not at all what you'd expect. It's very 1960's American, with meeting rooms on the ground floor, reception rooms on the first and various entertainment rooms on the second including a cinema and on the top floor it even has a nightclub and heli pad. While the whole building is quite airy and the meeting rooms and reception rooms are quite grand the most interesting part was the bunker. It's just like you see in war movies with the telecommunications centre with several telephones lined up and the war room with all the maps on the wall. The last part of the visit was the replica tanks which stormed the palace on 30th April 1975 and a replica of the fighter jet that dropped the bombs on the palace.
We'd spent almost 4 hours in the palace and weren't able for much after this so headed for the hotel only to end up speaking to some Vietnamese students in the park. Students hang around the park and approach tourists and ask them if they can spare some time to chat to them so they can practise their English and learn about other cultures. The group we spoke with do this about 3 times a week and were all between the ages of 18 and 23. They were quite prepared, they ask where you're from and have laminates of each country which show a map of the country with various land marks on a couple of pictures of things they associate with that country which wasn't the most accurate to be honest and didn't show the typical things Ireland is associated with.
The map and the land marks wasn't too bad but we didn't recognise the pictures. One showed a castle surrounded by water which meant nothing to us and another showed men in kilts. We explained what a kilt was and that it was more of a Scottish thing and asked if they'd ever heard of Guinness and they hadn't. It was difficult to try and explain that Guinness was a stout, on this side of the world beer is the main alcoholic drink apart from spirits, they don't even have cider but they took a note and were going to look into it later. Before you ask no we didn't mention leprechauns, we didn't even think of it to be fair. They asked us about our relegion and what we did for a living and what the main industries were in Ireland and they were surprised that fishing isn't a bigger industry. I think they'd assumed because we're an island fishing would be the main industry. One of them thought we even hunted dolphin! I'm not sure where they got this information but we were quick to put them right.
In return for our time they told us a bit about Vietnam and the city, providing us with a map which they marked with the best restaurants and main tourist attractions. After about an hour thet gave us each a Vietnamese scarf as a thank you for talking to them and after a quick photo we left for some dinner before the night market that night.
The following day was a bit of a waste, we went on two wild goose chases or even three depending on your out look. We'd intended on visiting the war remnants museum but decided as we were in a large city we'd see if we could get my phone fixed. Address of the Nokia service centre in hand off we went on foot. We did find what we're fairly sure was the correct address having checked we were in the right place with some locals but there was no sign of Nokia service centre, we walked the block and eventually have up and headed back to the main part of town for an early lunch.
The museum wasn't open for the afternoon until 1.30 so we thought we'd browse through the market on the way and go and have a look in the Puma outlet store which we thought wasn't far from the museum as Shane was in need of some decent trainers. We walked and we walked and we walked and eventually found it after about 40 minutes of being on the correct street. It was on the opposite end and in no way worth the effort particularly in the heat!
In the hopes of getting something from the day we headed back to go to the museum only to arrive and it be closed, due to a power cut. Shane at this point very hot and tired would not accept "just closed" as a suitable response so requested the security guy who couldn't speak much English to get someone to come out and explain why they were closed.
We wrote off the day and decided after all the walking we deserved a cold beer and found a bar and had an early one before heading back to the hotel to meet Linda that night who was flying in from Hoi An.
After a catch up over dinner we'd a fairly early night in the hopes of having a more successful day the next. With the three of us back together again we discussed our plan for the next few days over breakfast and decided to use the morning to organise our travel plans and hotels etc. Before heading to the war remnants museum for the afternoon.
The museum is very one sided but more than any museum I've ever been too shows how war effects innocent people more than anything else. I was surprised to see that much of the information comes from US sources. The ground floor is an exhibit of the antiwar support from round the world, while the upper floors tell the story of the war and those effected. It doesn't just talk about the historic effects of the war but also the effect agent Orange in particular still continues to have on the current population. The last exhibit on the top floor is a collection of photographs from legendary photographers such as Larry Burrows.
At this point myself and Linda were at saturation point so we left Shane to wonder the various military machines outside and headed to a bar close by and waited for Shane.
I had to have a look at the impressive selection of war vehicles outside including a F-5A fighter jet, an A-37 Dragonfly and A-1 Skyraider attack bombers, Chinook & Huey helicopters, an M48 Patton tank as well as various other tanks, boats and artillery. (Shane)
We were pretty beat that evening so we had an early night before our bus journey to Mui Ne the next morning which was an early start.
Fabulous pictures, looks so beautiful xx
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