After the 1 hour 45 minute Tiger Airways flight from Singapore ($51.90 USD/person), we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City around 8:30am. It took us a while to get through the immigration process since we had neglected to bring passport photos with us for the pre-arranged visas (basically, you get online, request that someone arrange for you to pick up visas in the airport when you arrive, pay them ~$7USD for each visa, and hope that the visas will be waiting for you in the airport when you arrive). I paid one of the agents $20AUD to take our pictures and work it out. We had to pay an additional ~$27USD each for our Vietnam visas.
We had arranged for a car and driver to pick us up from the airport and accompany us all day for 1.2 million Vietnam Dong (~$60). Our first stop was the Cu Chi tunnels, about an hour and a half outside Ho Chi Minh City. These were the tunnels that the Vietnamese soldiers and civilians pretty much lived in for the duration of the Vietnam War. They are located literally in the middle of dense vegetation and trees.
The tourist attraction is run by the Vietnamese and there is a somewhat different spin on how and why everything went down with respect to the war. The Americans were constantly referred to as the invaders or opposition and the view is that Vietnam ultimately outlasted and survived the attack. We watched the anti-American propaganda films until we got bored with the black and white and low-quality sound, then we checked out the various different traps that the Vietnamese soldiers used, and were able to get a general feel for what life must have been like for the soldiers. We got to walk through the tunnels and we even bought some of the sandals made out of used tires (the Vietnamese were very resourceful, using everything they came across including American tanks and un-detonated bombs).
We ate some Yucca dipped in peanut sauce (delicious) and huddled beneath the makeshift tents to hide from the rain, which by that time was pouring down. The day started off sunny, but within 2 hours we felt like we were in a scene from one of the Vietnam War movies, crawling through bogs and mud with the rain coming at you from all directions (sideways even). We got tired of waiting beneath the tent (we had places to be, after all), so we braved the rain and made our way to the car. We then stopped for some Vietnamese food at the local restaurant. Surprisingly, the kids ate it all.
On the way home we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some snacks and drinks for the next couple days and made our way back to our hotel, the Sheraton Saigon Hotel and Towers where we had booked one night in a club room (including free drinks in the lounge all day long, free canapés from 5-7pm and free buffet breakfast) for 11,000 SPG points. We hit the pool, as we are accustomed to do since the kids can't seem to enjoy anything else in a place until they've had a swim in the hotel pool (doesn't matter how crappy the pool is), had some dinner, and at around 7pm grabbed a cab to go to the Ho Chi Minh City Circus ($20USD for the whole family). Upon arrival at the circus, we quickly realized that we were going to be the odd ones out and this was no tourist attraction, rather, it was a local circus. There were hundreds of local Vietnamese families packed into a makeshift outdoor auditorium. It was school holidays for Vietnam, so there were hundreds of Vietnamese children around just loving every minute of the entertainment. It was an incredibly special experience for us to witness this...one of the highlights of the entire trip.
The circus was pretty amazing, although we didn't understand a word of it, and, as far as we knew, were the only non-Vietnamese people in the audience. Highlights included a black bear riding a bicycle and a moped, monkeys and dogs doing all kinds of tricks, tight rope high wire stunts, and some pretty incredible acrobatics. There was some serious talent in this circus and the courage and bravery by some of the performers was amazing.
The next morning we had our free massive buffet breakfast in the hotel then headed off for our 2 day, 1 night private tour of the Mekong River Delta which was booked through TNK Travel at a price of 7.35 million Vietnam Dong (~$350USD) for the 6 of us. We are so glad we did this tour. This defined our visit to southern Vietnam. I could not even imagine touring this area of the world without doing something similar to what we did.
After approximately 2 hours on our private bus (private was the way to go as we have young children that make a lot of noise), we stopped at My Tho to visit a pagoda (buddhist temple). It was pouring down rain and we bought some ponchos and traditional Vietnamese hats to attempt to keep dry (it didn't really work, but we felt pretty awesome wearing around our circular pointy top hats).
We then boarded a boat and headed across the river for lunch (I think it was called Unicorn Island?). Lunch was great and consisted of fried rice, shrimp, chicken dishes, spring rolls, etc. We even convinced both Ryder and Sawyer to eat the shrimp (at least a bite).
We got back on the boat and were taken to Ben Tre where we were able to see a few cottage industries including coconut candy, honey tea, and lotion...we even got to put a python around our neck and play with it for a bit.
We then jumped on small rowboats (sampans) and rowers took us up narrow canals to our next destination. We got to try all kinds of fruit (dragon fruit, papaya, mango, watermelon with salt) and listen to traditional Vietnamese music. We were then taken by bus/boat to our homestay/bungalow. We took off our shoes and wandered through the rice paddies. We didn't get far because it was muddy and slippery.
The bungalow had 2 queen size mattresses with mosquito nets around them. We had 1 rotating fan, and no air conditioning. It was a hot, sweaty, uncomfortable night, and a massive deviation from the 5-star treatment we had received at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and Sheraton Saigon Hotel and Towers in HCMC. The kids didn't have any problem with it. It took them a while to get the overstimulation of sights, smells, and sounds that we had taken in out of their minds so they could get to sleep.
Before bed, we helped make some spring rolls and had dinner before strolling through the village. There were no street lights and the road was barely wide enough for a small vehicle. Most vehicular traffic was on mopeds. It was pitch black, you could hardly see 40 feet in front of you. We bought some candy at a local store (front of someone's house) and shared with the Vietnamese children. The kids were shocked that we bought candy just to turn around and give it to them...they kept looking at their parents as if to ask "can I really eat this?" Cody sabotaged a game of cards and showed some card tricks to some of the men. They couldn't figure any of them out and we disappeared into the darkness leaving them with the mysteries of card magic. We thought we were cool. We went to bed pretty early as there was not much to do once the sun was down.
We arose early for breakfast (jam on bread) and got back on our boat and headed to the Cai Rang floating markets.
We then stopped off at a rice paper factory and a plantation growing jackfruit, dragon fruit, and a bunch of other types of exotic fruit. We stopped in Can Tho and bought a big bag of fruit we had never tried before (custard apple, rambleton, etc.).
Next we made our way back to Ho Chi Minh City on the bus (~3 hours) to catch our flight to our next destination in Vietnam, DaNang.
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