Remember when I thought Bali was intense - well that's because I hadn't yet experienced Vietnam.
The flight was dreadful - I cried the whole way because of bad turbulence, AND we were flying through a thunder and lightning storm - horrific. How I travel so much with my fear of flying I do not know. Sadly this was a 'dry' flight so I couldn't drink away my nerves.
The air hostess assured me that Singapore airspace was known for being a bit bumpy but that didn't really help.
Here is a picture of my food. I think the bit that looks like weird slop was chicken, but can't be sure.
When I arrived in Ho Chi Mihn City, I was collected from the plane by my new wheelchair companion. This made my trip through the airport nice and easy - he even pushed my suitcase at the same time he pushed me - incredibly talented man.
My driver was waiting for me outside the airport. He spent about 10 minutes texting and ignoring me when I greeted him, which I wouldn't have been too bothered about except the airport man had taken my wheelchair away and I was now stood awkwardly with a stranger that was ignoring me, whilst balancing on one leg like a flamingo. Eventually, he remembered he had a job and disappeared to get the car leaving me standing for 5 minutes wondering if he was already bored of me and had done a runner.
The motorbike population had now tripled from what I was used in Bali, and I was sat in traffic with hundreds of people on their motorbike doing their daily commute. The journey took a while, but I was so fascinated by my surroundings that I didn't really notice. I was seeing whole families sat on one bike - including babies, women dressed very smartly in designer clothes and stiletto heels driving them, and I even spotted a few with kids that looked no older than 12 driving.
FACT TIME: Ho Chi Mihn City is also known to some by its former name - Saigon. The name of the city was changed in 1976 after one of the countries most famous leaders. The city is located in the south of Vietnam and is the most populated city in the country.
Luckily I wasn't alone on this trip and my friend from New Zealand, Sam, was waiting for me at our first hotel. We stayed at the AHA Boutique Hotel. Despite the fact I had bandages on my feet, my driver decided that he was only going to drop me at the end of the road because the hotel was in view. So, I then found myself hobbling along a street with my massive suitcase (30kgs because I'm so high-maintenance) desperately trying not to get hit by a motorbike.
Turns out, 'Boutique' does not mean fancy like we had assumed, in Vietnam. Google even defined the hotel as 'elegant lodging' - not sure I would agree. There were holes in the towels and bath mat, a lack of toiletries and I wondered each time I got in the lift whether I would actually make it out again. The location was in the heart of the party street so we were listening to loud music until the early hours. I didn't mind this too much because it turns out the Vietnamese love a bit of Little Mix and Ariana.
Breakfast was on the roof every morning so we had great views of the city. However, of all the hotels we ended up staying in, I would say this one had the smallest choice of breakfast options. There was an interesting choice of eggs, toast and fruit but also rice, noodles and curry. I had an omelette every morning throughout the whole trip because I am ever-so original.
The heat in Ho Chi Minh was incredibly humid and could reach around 32 degrees each day, but there was also some occasional rain storms. Nightmare for my bandages. But, I could now fit my foot in a trainer as it had deflated a little.
The first stop of our trip was the War Remnants Museum. An eye-opening museum full of photos and information about the Vietnam war. Admittedly, I didn't really know much about this war, but we came out a little horrified by what we had just seen. The museum has some very graphic and harrowing images of the war and even the post-war effects from the 'Agent Orange' - the chemical that the U.S Military sprayed over areas of Vietnam.
Following our visit to the museum, we experienced our first time being ripped-off in Vietnam. I had been told repeatedly 'only get in metered taxis' - well that's great advice if they don't put the meter on the 'rip-these-tourists-who-don't-understand-the-currency-or-speak-Vietnamese' setting. We ended up paying about $20 for a 2-minute ride, even though we had paid $3 for the 10-minute ride to get to the museum. When I tried to question the driver about why he was charging us so much, he suddenly lost all the English language skill he had when we got into the car. Excellent.
We were visiting the Saigon Centre next - a huge shopping mall in the city. The mall included many shops from home such as Topshop and Pandora, something I wasn't expecting. One thing I forgot to mention, was that our first day in Ho Chi Minh was actually Christmas Eve, so the centre was full of great Christmas decorations and felt very festive - probably one of the only places in Vietnam that felt festive during our stay. We found a Vietnamese 'street food' restaurant (because I am way too unlucky in life to risk eating actual streetfood) for our first lunch, and it was pretty good - couldn't tell you what it was though.
Across the road from the Saigon Centre was the wonder of - Fake City (not it's real name - took me a few days to realise that my friend was just calling it that). Rows and rows of stalls selling fake designer goods. The place was so big/crowded/narrow that it was incredibly easy to get lost - but there was something fascinating about it. Although some of the items were quite obviously fake, most of them were pretty incredibly made (and still pretty pricey).
In the afternoon we met up with another one of my friends who I had met on my Bali trip. We set off in search of a spa to get a massage. We found one that looked pretty legit from the outside, and before I knew it Sam and I were both lying on beds in a dingy/dirty area at the back of the spa (Maddi took the smart option for a facial). I was a little confused because our beds were almost touching each other and I wasn't sure how they were possibly going to give us a back massage - something I was just saying out loud when I suddenly found out.
There was now a small woman sat on my back.
And, I could hear Sam wincing in pain and asking her masseuse to be a little more gentle so I knew there must be someone on her back too.
The next 30 minutes were a bit of a surreal experience and we all left that spa in silence (after being ripped off again as they demanded $10 worth of tips each).
After dinner, we spent the evening drinking cocktails on a rooftop bar close to our hotel. The place was pretty dead because we were out far too early - but at least we had a seat and I was very content. From the rooftop, we could sit and watch the crazy traffic below. I could literally have just sat and watched the traffic all night. The plan was to see in Christmas Day but we failed at that and went to bed.
In the morning, we took another trip to the shopping centre to get some cash from the safer looking cash machines. It seems in Vietnam, Christmas Day is to be spent at the Shopping Centre doing family photoshoots with the decorations. All the women were very dressed up in evening dresses and we watched them make their way around the mall in large groups, stopping at any festive decor for a few pictures. I felt very under dressed.
For lunch, we had a traditional Vietnamese Banh Mi.
Google define, please - a sandwich consisting of a baguette (traditionally baked with both rice and wheat flour) filled with a variety of ingredients, typically including meat*, pickled vegetables, and chilli.
* I had the vegetarian version because I'm a wimp. The Banh Mi cost about $1.50 and was delicious.
Being Christmas Day we decided to be super festive and took a day trip to the Củ Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were used by the Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam war and were used for hiding, traps, storing supplies and even hospitals. It took about an hour and a half to get to the tunnels and we were on a group tour with about 10 other tourists. When we arrived at the tunnels there were lots of other tour groups there and it was all very disorganised. Our tour guide walked us around and showed us all the different areas - but also did spend most of the time on his phone which was quite annoying. There was an opportunity to get in the tunnels and experience it, however, due to my injuries, I wasn't sure I would be able to get back out so I gave it a miss - and judging by the faces from some of the people when they got out - I think I made the right decision.
Halfway through the tour I realised I had lost my sunglasses (yes, those invincible Raybans) and went running off back to the bathrooms I had recently been in. As I rushed off, they fell off my head and I realised I hadn't actually lost them after all. So that was pretty embarrassing.
But the Raybans live on.. again!
Being out on a tour bus gave us the opportunity to see a bit more of Ho Chi Minh City - as we only had 2 days there, and I was still pretty injured, we hadn't seen as much as I would have liked to.
In the evening, I decided to go for a local delicacy for my Christmas dinner. New York Pizza. Takeaway, obviously, so I could sit in bed and watch movies whilst I ate it. Pizza in Vietnam is weird because they seem to use tomato salsa on the base instead of pizza sauce but it was still a delight and I was happy with my life decisions.
On our final morning in Vietnam, we had one more important thing to do before we headed to the airport, and that was to try some egg coffee. I saw this on a Kara and Nate vlog so it was high on my Vietnam to-do list (I basically do anything they tell me to do if you hadn't noticed - particularly coffee based) We found a small coffee shop in an alleyway near our hotel that offered it on the menu and got two cups - it was delicious. It's hard to describe, but it tasted like fluffy custard and smelt amazing. That was the start of our egg coffee love.
Next stop - Hoi An, Vietnam.
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