After our fun filled five days in Hanoi, we returned to Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) in the hopes of experiencing the bustling city life outside of the TET holiday and traveling to the see the famed Mekong Delta. Our first trip to Saigon was fantastic and quickly placed it at the top of our favorite cities in SE Asia. Therefore, we had high expectations for our return trip and thankfully, we were not disappointed.
Upon arrival, our first order of business was to adjourn to the comfortable confines of An's Guesthouse and spend some more time with our hospitable hosts. By the end of our time in Vietnam, An's truly started to feel like a home away from home. This time we got the fabled top floor room featuring a built-in coy pond. ML even took to feeding, naming and petting the fish.
Our itinerary for our final five days in Vietnam included shopping, visiting the modern art museum, touring the Mekong, taking care of some personal items and of course eating. One of our fantastic hosts, Trinh Cong, who drove ML around on his scooter in an earlier post, is a famous artist & poet in Vietnam. He has traveled extensively in the US as an ambassador of Vietnamese painting. With his guidance we toured the Vietnam Modern Art museum to find two of his paintings. The museum was a post-war restored French villa and proved as a great way to enjoy the afternoon and stay out of the sweltering afternoon heat.
After two days in Saigon, we headed on a day trip to the Mekong river delta. The Mekong, or "great river" in Vietnamese is the 10th longest river in the world and runs through China, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos before culminating its journey by entering Vietnam, splitting into 9 sections and emptying into the South China Sea. Over the years, the Mekong Delta has traded hands between various nations, namely Cambodia, Thailand, the French and finally the Vietnamese. It has long been revered as the "breadbasket" of Vietnam since 95% of the land are farms and it produces the majority of rice consumed in Vietnam.
Our trip on the Delta started with a four hour bus ride south from Saigon past rice paddy fields to the port of Cai Be. In Cai Be, we transferred to a boat and toured the famous Cai Be floating market. What separated this from traditional markets was the presence of large houseboats selling various vegetables and fruits. Farmers harvest their crops and transport them by boat to the market. Each boat advertises their wares by hanging items from large poles on the front of the boat.
After the market we visited a traditional Mekong river village, which at this point was little more than a contrived tourist attraction. Although it did give us two great memories, first the little lady shown here who chased around tourists begging them to take pictures of her and Second, "Royal Jelly." If you enlarge the picture below, it is a marketing piece talking about the medicinal qualities of Vietnamese Royal Jelly, or queen bee secretions. If you read closely, you will see it cures, cancer, provides libido and our favorite cures all forms of Hepatitis A,B,C,D and those not yet discovered. We laughed so hard the locals though something was wrong with us and kept coming back to the table.
After the "traditional" village tour we crossed the Mighty Mekong, which at it's widest resembled a lake more than a river. Once finished with lunch we transferred onto narrow longboats, where we donned the traditional Vietnamese conical hats and with our local guides us back to Ben Tre and then Saigon by Bus.
After our trip on the Mekong, we took advantage of our last days in Vietnam to attend to a few personal items including foot massages, hair cuts, manicures & pedicures ($7) and of course more eating - it is also worth nothing AB hit the gym. Our culinary itinerary for our second Saigon visit included hitting our favorite haunts from our first trip like Duck noodle soup, springrolls, and more pho. We also supplemented the old favorites with some new finds like a cute french bistro run by a FOB trendy french couple and a great Banh Mi spot.
Overall, we were reticent to leave Vietnam, but since we had already extended our time there by a full week over our plan, we felt it time to-go. So with a heavy heart, we followed in the footsteps our American brethren in 1975 and fled Vietnam. I am sure most of you have read the title of the post and questioned our gastro intestinal health. When the American's decided it was best to evacuate the country, fearing reprisal from the eminent thrust to power of the Northern Vietnamese, they executed Operation Frequent Wind. Over 60,000 American supporters were air lifted out. Then in the the final hours, over the American radio station, it was announced, "The temperature in Saigon is 112 and rising", followed by the song "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas." The signal for all the Americans left to meet at the American Embassy, where in the final hours they airlifted 7,000 people out of Saigon by helicopter. Similarly, we packed and hoped a 6 hour bus ride to the nearest neighbor to the north, Cambodia.
After two days in Saigon, we headed on a day trip to the Mekong river delta. The Mekong, or "great river" in Vietnamese is the 10th longest river in the world and runs through China, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos before culminating its journey by entering Vietnam, splitting into 9 sections and emptying into the South China Sea. Over the years, the Mekong Delta has traded hands between various nations, namely Cambodia, Thailand, the French and finally the Vietnamese. It has long been revered as the "breadbasket" of Vietnam since 95% of the land are farms and it produces the majority of rice consumed in Vietnam.
Our trip on the Delta started with a four hour bus ride south from Saigon past rice paddy fields to the port of Cai Be. In Cai Be, we transferred to a boat and toured the famous Cai Be floating market. What separated this from traditional markets was the presence of large houseboats selling various vegetables and fruits. Farmers harvest their crops and transport them by boat to the market. Each boat advertises their wares by hanging items from large poles on the front of the boat.
After the market we visited a traditional Mekong river village, which at this point was little more than a contrived tourist attraction. Although it did give us two great memories, first the little lady shown here who chased around tourists begging them to take pictures of her and Second, "Royal Jelly." If you enlarge the picture below, it is a marketing piece talking about the medicinal qualities of Vietnamese Royal Jelly, or queen bee secretions. If you read closely, you will see it cures, cancer, provides libido and our favorite cures all forms of Hepatitis A,B,C,D and those not yet discovered. We laughed so hard the locals though something was wrong with us and kept coming back to the table.
After the "traditional" village tour we crossed the Mighty Mekong, which at it's widest resembled a lake more than a river. Once finished with lunch we transferred onto narrow longboats, where we donned the traditional Vietnamese conical hats and with our local guides us back to Ben Tre and then Saigon by Bus.
After our trip on the Mekong, we took advantage of our last days in Vietnam to attend to a few personal items including foot massages, hair cuts, manicures & pedicures ($7) and of course more eating - it is also worth nothing AB hit the gym. Our culinary itinerary for our second Saigon visit included hitting our favorite haunts from our first trip like Duck noodle soup, springrolls, and more pho. We also supplemented the old favorites with some new finds like a cute french bistro run by a FOB trendy french couple and a great Banh Mi spot.
Overall, we were reticent to leave Vietnam, but since we had already extended our time there by a full week over our plan, we felt it time to-go. So with a heavy heart, we followed in the footsteps our American brethren in 1975 and fled Vietnam. I am sure most of you have read the title of the post and questioned our gastro intestinal health. When the American's decided it was best to evacuate the country, fearing reprisal from the eminent thrust to power of the Northern Vietnamese, they executed Operation Frequent Wind. Over 60,000 American supporters were air lifted out. Then in the the final hours, over the American radio station, it was announced, "The temperature in Saigon is 112 and rising", followed by the song "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas." The signal for all the Americans left to meet at the American Embassy, where in the final hours they airlifted 7,000 people out of Saigon by helicopter. Similarly, we packed and hoped a 6 hour bus ride to the nearest neighbor to the north, Cambodia.
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