Our trek to Can Tho started with a ferry from Phu Quoc. The ferry terminal was quite chaotic; we really didn’t know what we were doing and shockingly there was no signage telling us anything! Eventually we found our ferry boat, boarded and sat in our VIP seats on the upper level.
ferry-chaos.html. Two and a half ours later we arrived in Rach Gia; an ocean city bigger than we thought it would be. We met our “luxury van” at the coffee shop stop a few blocks away. Not sure why I didn’t take a photo, but the coffee shop was a stand, full of hammocks lined up in a row, and a side alley to the bathrooms – this is the first bathroom we have seen that is just a hole in the ground. By 1:30, we were in our VIP van with 5 other people, heading to 2 other stops to fill the van up before we headed out on the 2.5 hour drive to Can Tho. This was the most aggressive driving either of us have been thru…I can’t even describe how insane this driver was and we can’t believe we made it without damaging something.
We figured it was time to treat ourselves to the fanciest hotel in town – Sheraton. Sheraton room tour and here is the outside sheraton-pool-and-river.html The room on the 28th floor, came with turn down service, breakfast buffet, afternoon tea and happy hour (with buffet snacks)…..which is where we headed as soon as we arrived so we could calm our frazzled nerves.
I realize we might sound high end with our VIP ferry seats, luxury van and high end hotel…but the crazy thing is the price difference between cheap and comfort. Ferry tickets for example were $4 difference between hard plastic chair and soft VIP chair.
The city of Can Tho was bigger than we thought. The drive (as crazy as it was) also highlighted the agriculture in the area of the Mekong Delta – we saw rice fields, so many fruit orchards and bustling life on the river. As we walked around the first night learning to cross the streets…it was evident they were preparing for Chinese New Years as decorations were being erected and the quantity of flowers and watermelons for sale was indescribable! I believe the more you have it brings good luck and fortune or something.
We were only in town for 3 days and we spent time at the pool, walking around, went on a river boat to the floating market with Momma our captain – Todd only had to help her 6 times to remove the plastic bags wrapped around the prop – here are a few videos of that adventure:
Here are a few pics from our time there: Can-tho.html
From Can Tho, we hired a private driver to take us to Hi Chi Minh city. This was a way faster option than the bus, which was the original plan, but all the buses were a minimum of 5 hours and it was only 152 km!
Although most of the highway was Toll…there were alot of times we were just stopped on the highway or going slow cause of bumpy roads. There were many if not all bridge / highway transitions where he had to slow right down as they weren’t what we would call smooth. We left at 11am and arrived at our next apartment over 3 hours later! We walked in to a bit of a downgrade from the Sheraton…we have realized that it doesn’t matter what the place looks like online, you never know what you’re gonna get! OTIS Hotel tour
The first day we walked towards the city centre and then just kept walking. We booked our apartment in district 1 which has all the main tourist points and we can walk at least one way to maintain steps! The first full day we took the hop on hop off bus for a tour of the Ho Chi Minh city highlights.
Then went back to the Independence Palace and the Central Post office for detailed visits.
The palace was like going to Graceland (although I have never been to Graceland) but the building was left as is, circa 1960’s and included conference rooms, various meeting rooms, the presidential apartment and bathroom, various party rooms, a bunker and command center in the basement – with stairs directly to the presidents apartment. It was very cool! The post office was famous for its architecture – French, and the big thing here is that they have postcards for sale, rows of desks with pens, and a stamp counter. There was at any point in time at least 30-40 people writing postcards…it was fun and we did it too. post office
Cocktail bars here are a big thing especially if they are hidden.
Ended up at 85B cocktail bar…it was very cool AND the bartenders were very talented…made Tom Cruise seem like kindergarten!
One of the biggest tourist spots in HCMC is the War Remnant Museum….WOW! It was a mind-blowing place. Over the 3 floors, they described the history and how the Vietnam War started (although they call it the American War). It was 3 hours of non-stop head shaking while reading the commentary and looking at photo’s of the horrible conditions. By the time we got to the section on the Agent Orange spraying….we could hardly contain emotion and disgust at what happened to millions of innocent people in Vietnam including their descendants.
Both Todd and I vaguely remember hearing about ‘the Vietcong’ and Saigon in the news when we were kids. It is hard to correlate in your mind these terrible people some 50 years later – so far what we have seen of the Vietnamese people is their kindness, and smiles and pride in their lives and families….another incredibly resilient country after decades of war and death.
The next day we had to take the day off of sadness to try something fun …we took the metro subway to the tallest building in Vietnam called Landmark 81. You take the elevator to the 79 floor and the whole floor is windows, then you take stairs up to 81. You can go to a glass deck or a higher glass deck – we did both. Watched sunset, smog, saw the city of never ending buildings, a winding river and then saw all the lights come on at dusk…it was cool. Landmark-81.html River-at-night.html
The final full day in HCMC is Chinese New Year’s Eve! We arose at our normal time…..and about a half hour later a private drum / dragon dance troupe started up at the end of the block! Good Morning, Vietnam!
We planned to take it easy during the day…temps were 35C, no wind and high humidity. If we wanted to make it to New Years, we were going to limit our outdoor activity. Around 3 we went for a coffee and then 5:30 called a GRAB to take us downtown. Two main roads were closed to cars and entertainment started by 6 pm. We walked around a bit, looked for food, peed in portapotties that were so hard for women! (A hole in the ground in a very narrow cubicle…do you know how hard it is to squat in a 3 foot wide cubicle in 35C temperature…ugh) Then went for Mexican dinner cause we needed food and A/C! Met a couple of great young men (Paddy and Charlie) from Adelaide before we headed back down to the festivities. By 11:30 we settled at the Apartment Cafe building to watch fireworks which went on for 15 mins. We were surprised at how few people there were on the streets at midnight….we walked home, crashed at 1:15 and had to get up VERY early for our 8:00 am flight to Da Nang.
Here are a few pics of our time in HCMC: HCMC.html
Things that we notice:
– Chinese New Year – burning of things in a burn barrel in front of your house (fake money, cardboard, plastic) and it stinks
– amount of money that goes into decorating the cities (flags, streamers, billboards, LED lit up displays with gold horses galloping, building lights,….etc) and celebrations is insane!
– Ho Chi Minh has 14 million people – 9 million scooters and 1 million cars. traffic is insane but it works if you actually are able to watch it (without your Canadian glasses on)
– proud of their culture, food, family and so happy we have come to see and experience it
– very common for a family of 4 on a scooter with mom and dad wearing helmets and 2 kids with no helmets
– GRAB scooters used to transport anything like lime tree or planter of flowers or eggs or people – there are no limitations for GRAB drivers
– no personal space here, period