Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh
May 4: It's pronounced 'Ho Chee Ming'. Took a taxi to the airport (rip off in terms of price), and then my flight was delayed by an hour. Womp womp.
ANDY ARRIVED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY.
Our flights landed at the same time, so we met up and took a taxi back to our guesthouse.
It took a bit of a hunt to find where we were staying; not because of lack of landmarks, but because of the sheer number of possible alleyways and an unclear understanding of how street addresses work in this city. Thanks to some VERY helpful English-speaking locals, we were able to figure it out.
A necessary shower and chicken pho were had, and then bed by 930. I forced Andy to stay awake so that he could begin to get used to the time difference here. We shall see how long it takes for him to get on track.
May 5: Sleep in! That means we left the guesthouse at 9 ha. It really is difficult to sleep in here; there is simply too much noise and light. Plus, it clearly gets BOILING HOT during the day, so people start early.
We decided to wander the city, starting at a bakery. I love a good croissant. We sort of mapped out our travels through Vietnam, or at least created the start of a plan, and marveled at the Westernization of Ho Chi Minh. They've got McDonalds, Starbucks, bakeries with croissants, huge malls, a beautiful opera house, and even a church named Notre Dame.
Many businesses close for 1.5-2 hours at lunch, like the church. Sweet deal! There are two really nice parks in downtown, and since we love trees (feels, energy, smells), we took our time wandering through. We thought it might be nice to check out an opera, but the storyline did not appeal and it was too expensive for something we thought wouldn't be all that great.
We were VERY sweaty by lunchtime, so headed back to the guesthouse for a shower and siesta. We decided that we need to be somewhere with air conditioning during the hottest hours of the day. And if that means a nap, so be it.
We were pretty beat so grabbed noodles for dinner (typical), and watched some Netflix before an early night.
May 6: We walked a lot, and our feet were quite sore. We got lost on our way to check out Jade Emperor Pagoda, a very cool and old temple. Then wandered to the Notre Dame cathedral and the post office. The European influence can not be misconstrued. We stopped at a super cool cafe called The Loft for a much needed fresh vegetable salad and stirfry; turns out it's a chain, but I would never have thought so.
After a repose at The Loft, and then a nap at the guesthouse, we stopped at a cute shop to pick up a little wallet for Andy and visit the night market. Turns out, those smells were NOT appealing, though we did see a skinned alligator ... or maybe crocodile. Still had the full head, but literally the whole body had been skinned. Gotta love Asia ... yikes. Since the smells did not appeal to us, we grabbed smoothies and headed back to the guesthouse for an early night. Clearly, we are party animals.
May 7: We decided to sleep in and pack on our last morning, then ventured out for Indian food. Turns out, butter chicken is not the same everywhere; twas FAR too spicy for me so I could only eat about half of my dish. Luckily, Andy is very good at finishing off most of what I can’t eat. But I got to eat paratha, which made me VERY happy (huge thanks to Gloria for introducing me to it!).
ANDY ARRIVED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY.
Our flights landed at the same time, so we met up and took a taxi back to our guesthouse.
It took a bit of a hunt to find where we were staying; not because of lack of landmarks, but because of the sheer number of possible alleyways and an unclear understanding of how street addresses work in this city. Thanks to some VERY helpful English-speaking locals, we were able to figure it out.
A necessary shower and chicken pho were had, and then bed by 930. I forced Andy to stay awake so that he could begin to get used to the time difference here. We shall see how long it takes for him to get on track.
May 5: Sleep in! That means we left the guesthouse at 9 ha. It really is difficult to sleep in here; there is simply too much noise and light. Plus, it clearly gets BOILING HOT during the day, so people start early.
We decided to wander the city, starting at a bakery. I love a good croissant. We sort of mapped out our travels through Vietnam, or at least created the start of a plan, and marveled at the Westernization of Ho Chi Minh. They've got McDonalds, Starbucks, bakeries with croissants, huge malls, a beautiful opera house, and even a church named Notre Dame.
Many businesses close for 1.5-2 hours at lunch, like the church. Sweet deal! There are two really nice parks in downtown, and since we love trees (feels, energy, smells), we took our time wandering through. We thought it might be nice to check out an opera, but the storyline did not appeal and it was too expensive for something we thought wouldn't be all that great.
We were VERY sweaty by lunchtime, so headed back to the guesthouse for a shower and siesta. We decided that we need to be somewhere with air conditioning during the hottest hours of the day. And if that means a nap, so be it.
We were pretty beat so grabbed noodles for dinner (typical), and watched some Netflix before an early night.
May 6: We walked a lot, and our feet were quite sore. We got lost on our way to check out Jade Emperor Pagoda, a very cool and old temple. Then wandered to the Notre Dame cathedral and the post office. The European influence can not be misconstrued. We stopped at a super cool cafe called The Loft for a much needed fresh vegetable salad and stirfry; turns out it's a chain, but I would never have thought so.
After a repose at The Loft, and then a nap at the guesthouse, we stopped at a cute shop to pick up a little wallet for Andy and visit the night market. Turns out, those smells were NOT appealing, though we did see a skinned alligator ... or maybe crocodile. Still had the full head, but literally the whole body had been skinned. Gotta love Asia ... yikes. Since the smells did not appeal to us, we grabbed smoothies and headed back to the guesthouse for an early night. Clearly, we are party animals.
May 7: We decided to sleep in and pack on our last morning, then ventured out for Indian food. Turns out, butter chicken is not the same everywhere; twas FAR too spicy for me so I could only eat about half of my dish. Luckily, Andy is very good at finishing off most of what I can’t eat. But I got to eat paratha, which made me VERY happy (huge thanks to Gloria for introducing me to it!).
The Ho Chi Minh Museum is a very strange collection of all kinds of things. It is house in a REALLY cool building, which at different times was a palace that got turned into a government building for South Vietnam, then became an ally headquarters during the Vietnam war; since the North won, it was taken over and filled with various propaganda, along with some interesting tidbits about industry, geology, and history of different ethnic tribes.
All in all, Ho Chi Minh was a LOT of walking, and a lot of sleeping. The joys of jet lag and new activities. I've been impressed with how Andy is dealing with culture shock; nothing has been super shocking for him yet. It's definitely a concern, as I know it can be tough.
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