A catalogue of errors, but a good day nonetheless

We woke up early, due to a combination of city noise, light, and less than comfortable mattresses. However by the time we had eaten our complimentary breakfast (bread butter and jam for me, omelette for Andy) and headed out, it was nearly 11.

Traffic is utterly chaotic, but seems to work! Crossing this road was a challenge.

We left with the intention of walking to the art museum, but got sidetracked by a park on the way. As we sat soaking up the scenery, I spotted two girls, presumably local, pointing a camera towards us. After a couple of sideways glances it became clear we were being papped, so I gave them a jaunty wave and took a picture back at them.

If you zoom in you can see them papping us

It was at this point a man came over offering to be our moto driver for the duration of our stay in Saigon. After we got ripped off by Song in Siam Reap we were wary of him, but heard him out. Mistake number one. Then he ran off to get his reviews book and photo albums and enthusiastically showed them to us. All the reviews were extremely complimentary of Nghia, stating he showed them places no other tourist sees and is 100% trustworthy. The reviews stop at 2010, I assumed because the book ran out of space. We also took his word for it that he was in fact Nghia. Mistake number two!

Andy on Nghia's bike

Mistake number three was electing to go with Nghia and his friend despite my foreboding. They took us to Notre Dame cathedral and we had a little look around, and I explained my concerns to Andy, but I wasn't sure I was right so we decided to go to the tunnels with them at what we now know is a princely cost of 1 million Vietnamese Dong each (equivalent to about £30) -mistake 4. Mistake 5 was paying for the iced coffee they ordered on the way.

Notre Dame cathedral

There were three of these photos on my camera, and this was the best one.

Interestingly (to me anyway), some of the traffic lights here and in Thailand have timers instead of amber lights.

Rearview

Café Funny

Karaoke is big here in Asia

Just a guy carrying a bass on a motorbike, no biggie

We paid over the odds, but we still really enjoyed our moto rides

Had to get a shot of someone pushing a food stall wearing a traditional Vietnamese hat

We stopped on the way for rice paper (little crispy things that taste a bit like skips) and some honey wine, which was extremely difficult to drink! Not as nice as it sounds. However there was a very cute kitten, which looks a bit like a female Nidoran to me. Unfortunately I also cooked my right calf medium rare by accidentally resting it on the motorbike muffler - Nghia helpfully smothered it in what I think was toothpaste to avoid infection. I was very grateful as the terrain we crossed to get to the tunnels was incredibly dusty.

He did a neater job than this, but I smudged it

The next day it looked pretty grim, but it could've been a lot worse.

The tunnels themselves were very cool, and we had our own guide to take us round and show us the different tunnels and traps the Viet Cong used during the war with the US. The traps were brutal (one had long iron spikes to impale the victim through the armpits!) and the tunnels very narrow and low - we had to crouch down and waddle along. Top experience though, just maybe not for a claustrophobic person!

AK47s and M16s

Video room

Ouch

Andy and I in a hidden tunnel entrance

The tunnels were not big

Andy asking the big questions - tour guides just love him

Cleverly, the Viet Cong concealed the air ventilation holes for the tunnels within trees

This was pretty cool

Rolling trap - usually covered by a fragile canopy of leaves. Very painful

Folding chair trap - literally a folding chair with spikes attached. I would not dare to get that close.

Watch your step

Rice paper making

Mixing it up

With flash - this was taken at my eye level - the tunnels are very cramped

Without flash - that light wasn't there when the Viet Cong were using this tunnel. Scary stuff

I was grateful to get out of there

Tea, peanuts and sugar cane - a lovely lady at the end of the tour serves them

Us with the Viet Cong

We had local food for lunch at a place near to the tunnels and headed back towards town. On the way we stopped at a really good local market, there were no other tourists at all. Unfortunately I couldn't buy anything as I had no local currency on me. Next up was our sixth and final mistake, which was each of us paying a 500,000 Dong deposit for using the moto drivers the next day. Especially as we decided not to use them once we confirmed how much we were getting ripped off. On the way back to the hotel we hit the art museum and were culture vultures for an hour or so.

Big market

Art museum

Not a pose. 100% natural Ramsey

Impressive sculpture

Volleyball in the courtyard

Outside the art museum

For dinner, I had tagliatelle as Italian food seems very popular in Saigon, perhaps for its versatility and appeal to tourists. Andy was better; he had a local dish he can't remember the name of. Then we went to a bar down the road and enjoyed some apple and mint shisha before hitting the hay early, as we needed to be awake early the next day for our trip to Mekong Delta, which this time we had sensibly arranged through the hostel.

 

Farewell Bee, Bonjour Saigon

In the morning we quickly packed and ate breakfast before jumping onto the bus to Phnom Penh, where we could transfer onto a bus to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon or HCMC for short). As Bee lives in PP, she stayed behind, and after a quick goodbye and promise to see each other soon, Andy and I forged onwards on our journey.

Vietnamese customs was relatively painless as we already had our visas, and we got to our hotel (which we had booked on the way while we ate dinner at a service station) pretty easily thanks to our helpful minibus driver taking us right to the door of Koniko Backpackers Hostel by mid evening. Andy continued his tradition of over-tipping and paid the guy $5.

We lugged our bags up 5 flights of narrow stairs and collapsed on our beds. We were in a 10-bed dormitory but there was no one else there, although there was one backpack which indicated there would be at least one other joining us later on.

After resting up, we dragged ourselves outside to check out the surroundings. Our hostel was on a road I quickly dubbed 'The Gauntlet', because of how many people there are sitting on either side of the road watching as you walk by. We got as far as the end of the road before having a few games of pool, a drink, and heading back again to sleep.

The Gauntlet

 

Sihanoukville part 3

We woke up, showered, and went down the road for breakfast at the restaurant next door to Romeo's. After breakfast, we wanted to chill out somewhere cool and dark, so we played a little Uncharted on a PS3 that some enterprising Cambodian was renting out. After that we went down to the beach and got some sunbeds shaded by big umbrellas. Andy went off in a sadly fruitless search for ice cream, and then Bee and I went swimming in the sea again, but Andy point-blank refused on account of the horrific lobster sunburn on his back.

After we got out, our stuff had already been moved from the sunbed as they were clearing them away of rather evening, fortunately Andy was looking out for us and it was all still there. We went back and washed, and then headed out to Ernie's Burgers for another deliciously triumphant fattening up session. Andy and Bee were still a bit peckish afterwards though, so they got some local food at another place on the way down to the beach, where we sampled a different bar and a different flavour of shisha (strawberry). After a very relaxing couple of hours, we left the beach, and found an ice cream place which unfortunately lacked in Banana Splits, much to Bee's dismay. Pretty cool fluorescent ice cream cone outside though.

After that we went to Utopia for a drink and some balloons before heading back as we had an early bus to Ho Chi Minh City the next day!

/Sihanoukville

 

Sihanoukville part 2 featuring the Bee!

Cambodian Independence Day was a good night! Sheesha and parties on the beach, nitrous, good music and atmosphere, we bumped into Holly and Emma AGAIN..

Anyway, we got up early despite our hangovers so that we could get our boat. The tuk-tuk was late picking us up which was making us worry, but it came eventually. Free breakfast on the way to the boat, and then another tuk-tuk to the boat itself. There we met Reika, a Hungarian girl, and her Brazilian friend whose name now escapes me unfortunately. They were nice to talk to but it was clear they were suffering after the previous night so we left them to their hangovers before long.

The first stop on the boat was just off from an island I forget the name of, for snorkelling and seeing the reef. So we swam a good long way from the boat to get a look, and it was beautiful. Really glad we did it, I've never seen anything quite like it before. It was all going swimmingly (pause to roll your eyes here) until we both managed to tread on sea urchins (those things comprised almost entirely of long spikes) which really hurts! We swam back to the boat having seen enough coral and climbed onto the roof. There we collected our courage, readied the camera, and jumped. I forgot to breathe in, as usual, so I sank like a stone. Excellent rush though! I did it twice because Andy missed the photo the first time, but I didn't mind.

After we continued on, I got talking to a fascinating girl named Bee (I have not yet learnt her given names, they are very difficult). In a nutshell, Bee was born in Thailand to Cambodian parents, has studied in Korea and worked in loads of different jobs, including as a teacher. Like me, she hopes to see as much of the world as possible. We talked until lunch arrived on the boat (pork and rice) and then the boat landed on Bamboo Island, where we were to spend most of the day.

First thing we all did was walk to the the other side of the island:

We almost got eaten by insects on the way!

Me and Bee

Then we arrived at the considerably quieter, more tranquil beach on the other side and jumped straight into the sea:

Brazilian and Hungarian girls

Bee and Andy

Eventually it was time to head back to the boat:

Bee and Andy

Considerate of eachother's sunburn

"Ooooooh"

We cast off, and the boat driver gave the three of us the chance to drive the boat!

Andy driving the boat!

My turn!

Help we caught a fish!

After the crew pulled their lines in, we prepared ourselves for one last tandem jump, kindly recorded by Bee:

Help we caught a fish!

We went back and washed all the sand off ourselves before heading out for dinner feeling a little less gritty. We ate a good meal at a place called Romeo's and went back down to the beach to watch the sea and smoke some shisha:

Help we caught a fish!

'Hey Andy, do you like ice cream?'

After we had our fill of that, we went to Gary the eccentric Englishman's bar, seeing as we enjoyed it so much the previous night. Bee wanted to watch us play pool for some reason, and then we were going to watch Arsenal vs Man Utd in the bar, but tiredness forced us back to the hotel room.