Sleepless in Ho Chi Minh City

I tried to get some sleep last night, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.  Was fully awake at 5:00am, just in time to see the sun rising from my hotel window.  Realized Jennifer wasn't arriving until later today, so I decided to take some time to get a bit organized.  One thing about backpacking is that I find myself packing and repacking based on what my activities are going to be for a few days and once I think I have everything adjusted the way I want it, it's time to reorganize again.

Since four of the team are at the hotel already, I called them to go to breakfast and make a bit of a plan for the day.  Breakfast is included at our hotel and it is a real delight.  A mixture of western and Asian foods.  I love the Pho soup (a noodle based broth soup with lots of fresh flavours) and since everyone was raving about it, I also had a cup of Vietnamese coffee...can you say strong and the blackest coffee I've ever seen.  It actually has a cocoa flavour to it and traditionally taken with condensed milk...yep, it's calorie free!!

Jennifer arrived at about 11:00am and we eventually met with the rest of our team members (minus one) at noon...one straggler still on his way via the train from Thailand.  Once we got a few recommendations about where to have lunch, we grabbed a map and headed on our way.  It is hot and humid in Ho Chi Minh City and water is an essential at all times.  The roads are busy with compact cars and lots of motorbikes.

The city is somewhat clean to my surprise, however you can still feel the pollution in the air...most people wear face masks when driving in traffic.  There is lots of shopping to be done here as well.  Tailors, jewelry shops, tons of fashion stores and coffee shops on every corner.  You see a mixture of french architecture, with very interesting balconies flanked with plants and many restaurants with people sitting on the many decks enjoying the afternoon sun/shade, whichever you prefer. We had dinner at Pho 24...a popular Vietnamese fastfood types place and I learned the iced coffee is not my favourite thing....that is until I loaded it with some condensed milk.  Two cups of this coffee today and I think it's time I'm cut off!!!  I also learned that I have no skills when it comes to using chop stick...my goal for this trip is to at least master enough skill to eat some of my noodles with the proper utensil...spoons just don't cut it!

While out for our walk, I decided to get some Vietnamese dong...this is the currency here and I'm not sure if it's because I'm still so overtired or not, but I can't seem to get my head around the conversion.  For instance, I went to the bank and the maximum I could withdraw was 4 million VD...that's right, you heard me correctly...that's about $200 Canadian...I think!!  You feel a bit rich when you walk away from the bank with a huge bundle of cash in your pocket, but you also feel like you are getting ripped off when you're told your large bottle of water is going to cost you 30,000 VD!

Wanting to see what was around our hotel, we ventured to the Ben Thanh Market.  This is a huge market with stall after stall of clothing, jewelry, fabric, purses, food, lacquer wear...you name it I'm sure it's here.  But it's also very touristy and claustrophobic.  We wandered around for a bit and took a few pictures and then a few of us decided we were getting a bit tired, so we headed to a local coffee shop for a rest and coffee of course...none for me thanks.

I think the time change and my lack of sleep over the past 3 days is starting to catch up with me, but I'm not giving into my tiredness just yet. Tonight some of us have booked a Vespa tour of some of Ho Chi Minh City's (or Saigon as most of the locals call it) hot spots, which should include some good food, drinks and entertainment...the drive itself should be full of entertainment as well.  I'm sure it will be a whole other perspective of the city and I can't wait to take it all in.

Until then...