While in Cambodia, we took a weekend and went to Viet Nam. After a six hour bus ride, we finally arrived to Ho Chi Minh. Courtney and I decided to room together since we’ve tended to room together since our first trip to St. Lucia — we tend to work well as roomies!
Our room was amazing! We had air conditioning, a double bed that was a real bed (meaning it was off the floor), cable TV and a mini fridge plus a private bathroom. You never realize how much you really miss little luxuries until you have them again!
The first half day I just walked around the city seeing what there was to do. And that evening I found a little piece of heaven on Earth. Oh yes, I’m talking about 23 blended flavors that create Dr. Pepper. So it cost $1.50 a can but it was worth it! (One the World Race, you start to believe that Dr. Pepper outside of the States is a myth.)
The following day we went on a tour of the delta that was about two hours away from the city. However, the tour wasn’t quite what we had thought it would be, but we still had fun. We had thought it would be more touring the delta in a boat the majority of the time — I had assumed that the delta was something that played a role in the war, however apparently I was wrong. Instead it ended up being an eating tour, not too shaby. We did get to ride in one of those small boats you see in movies for about 5 minutes but people kept yelling at us to tip our guides.
Our tour guide, a single man in his early 30s, was obessed with beautiful ladies and getting married. And he talked about it the entire time! He also decided to sing to us but asked us not to tell his boss because he would get in trouble. Of course, Courtney and I were in the front seats so we had to endure the majority of his ramblings about marriage.
After four stops for food including a place where coconut candy is made by hand – yum — and an encounter with a Python, we headed back on a ferry to end our tour. Except the bridge to get back to the land was now under water so we all had to take off our shoes and cross the ‘bridge’ with water half way up our legs. Now that’s World Race style!
Overall, our trip to Viet Nam was great. Fast, but really needed. It’s still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this is really my life. I lived in Cambodia this past month and vacationed in Viet Nam. How many people ever get to live like this?!
