HCMC

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) buzzes with life on wheels - from bicycles to motorbikes to cars. Trying to cross a street corner as a tourist is an adventure on to itself, but if one takes a deep breath and just start walking, bikers will move around you like a school of fish.



After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the city was renamed after the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh (both names are used interchangeably today). As the former capital of the French Colony of Cochin-China, Ho Chi Minh City's architectural heritage is linked to its French design of neo-classical buildings. The city is quite expansive with 16 urban and 5 rural districts, but District 1 is the Central Business District that includes many of the historical and cultural importance - The Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the touristy Bến Thành Market.

Sampling Vietnamese cuisine throughout the city is a must - from numerous Pho noodle shops to the food stalls (indoors and outdoors) of Bến Thành Market. Of course, one cannot miss the best coffee in Asia...Vietnamese coffee, with sweet condensed milk!

By now I was getting tired of sleeping in questionable "hotels", especially after spending a month sleeping in gers and the Beijing experience...the "hotel" Emma and I found in HCMC was definitely cheap but I was able to convince Emma that we needed to upgrade and pamper ourselves a bit, just like what we did in Hoi An. We both agreed that after the Mekong trip, we would move to a different hotel - we noticed a newly renovated 3-star hotel few buildings from our current hotel, found a great rate online for few dollars more and they would hold our bags until our arrival date...done. But we still didn't have a plan for the Mekong delta and we were suppose to leave the next morning. After few hours of research...nothing, until we spoke with the front desk clerk at Elios Hotel (where we'll be staying in two nights) who gave us a travel brochure for the Mekong delta. Emma and I had a plan - we would do a one-day tour, stay at a hotel overnight in Bến Tre, rent bikes to explore the area and then take the bus back to HCMC the following day. It was a brilliant plan, we even found a cheaper price at the travel agency next to the hotel! We headed to the Bến Thành Market for some shopping and dinner, feeling pleased with our itinerary.

Location:Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam