Mekong River trip

Fantastic day out today on the Mekong River and surrounding islands. Our trip only cost £6 each and included a two hour bus ride each way from Saigon, rides on four different boats, a visit to a pagoda with giant bhudda, tropical fruit and drink tasting, lunch, a horse and cart ride, meeting a snake and bees - not at the same time, and a free hat each!

I could say more, but the pictures cover it all....

Sightseeing in Saigon

Excellent day today where we ticked off a lot of the major sights of Saigon.

The weather was beautiful and we started with the main Post Office as Daz needed some stamps. The outside is nice, but the inside is amazing with a huge picture of Ho Chi Minh on the wall.

The Notre Dame cathedral is also lovely, and then we came across the City Hall, with a large statue of Ho Chi Minh. All of the main buildings were designed by the French in a traditional style. 

We then found the Opera House and it had a bicycle outside covered with wicker baskets. It was advertising a show of traditional Vietnamese culture, but done in a modern way and we bought tickets for tonight. 

Afterwards we walked down a massive open boulevard to the river and bought ferry tickets for next Monday and the next stage of our journey. 

Finally, we stopped for lunch at a pho restaurant. We have been meaning to try this famous dish, but I never thought that it was really my sort of thing. It was actually quite tasty, but hard work with just chopsticks and a spoon. I ended up with it all around my mouth and very sticky hands, so not very high up the list of food to be repeated. 

Ps, After a relaxing afternoon we headed back to the Opera House and the show was great. 

Cu Chi tunnels

Today we went on a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, that are not far from Saigon. They were used by the Vietcong to hide underground from the American soldiers during the war.

The tunnels were very small and narrow and in some places were three stories deep, and were well hidden by the jungle.

The Americans tried very hard to destroy the tunnels and used agent orange and napalm to destroy the jungle, but even then they still couldn't find most of the tunnels. 

The Vietcong set gruesome booby traps and would pop up through secret entrances to attack the enemy and then disappear again. 

I went down one of the original holes and it was really tiny, and once the lid was on it completely disappeared. 

There was the wreck of an American tank and we also walked underground through a small section of the original tunnel. It was only 20 metres long and had electric lighting but it was very claustrophobic and hot.

It was a very, very interesting day, and then to finish it off Daz tried a sample of snake wine from an awful looking bottle! 

Saigon, Vietnam 🇻🇳

We caught a flight today and landed this afternoon in Saigon, otherwise known as Ho Chi Minh.

It is a really interesting place and is far greener and cleaner than I remembered. Our hotel is in a great location as it is very central and within walking distance of everything.

It is just down the street in picture one, and it is a tall narrow building that Daz is standing outside in pic two. He splashed out and we have the double room just above the reception for £15 per night.

One thing that hasn't changed are the thousands of mopeds on the roads, and most of them carry two or three people, as well as lots of shopping. 

We also found the main backpacker bar area which is called a walking street, but sadly no one has told the moped riders who shoot along the road just like any other. 

Spiceworld and the Butterfly Park

On Monday we had a lovely touristy day, and Dave has a friend who lives on Penang who very kindly showed us around.

We started at the Spice Gardens, which is a rainforest garden starting at sea level and going up into the hill behind.  My first thought was how incredibly hot and steamy it was, but either we got used to it or it cooled down a bit as we walked upwards. We learned all about dozens of different plants and spices, but it has all rolled into one in my head, so I won't amaze you with any interesting facts.

The giant swing was good and there was a peaceful teahouse right at the very top. 

After a tasty lunch that cost 80 pence each we visited the Butterfly Park, which cost significantly more. However, it was definitely worth it.

Firstly, Daz made friends with a scorpion who crawled across his hand - not a butterfly I know.

Dave was very popular with a big butterfly that sat on his ankle for most of the visit, but eventually I briefly found a friend of my own.

There was thousands of butterflies everywhere and the park was enormous, so we spent ages wandering around taking pretty photos. We also went to the hatching area and watched a couple of butterflies appear and start to unfold their wings. 

Straits Quay

Today we moved into an apartment in Straits Quay for a couple of days. It is about five miles away from the noise and bustle of Georgetown and we can relax, almost put our feet up and make full use of the swimming pool.

First of all though we caught a ferry from Penang Island to the mainland. It cost about 30 pence each and only took about 15 minutes.

Once across at Butterworth we took a quick look, decided that it wasn't very exciting and got straight back on the ferry for the return trip. 

We didn't mind though, as the whole point of the outing was the journey, not the arrival. 

In the evening we went down to the hawker stalls at Gurney and Margs and Dave went for the adventurous octopus option, while I stuck to the steamed veggies.

Very tasty though.