Flying to Ho Chi Minh

This morning, after a great nights sleep, I packed up my bag and the 4 of us who stayed one last night met up with Toni and Eric for one last meal together. We went to a Chinese restaurant that played Latin music and served Mexican food. And the food was pretty great! I had enchiladas haha because why not. I'll be back in Thailand in a few weeks to have more Thai food :) have to be honest I preferred the food in Laos, and I have high hopes for Vietnam!

After breakfast we went with Jessica to see how the dress she had custom made looked! And it was fantastic. In fact seeing it convinced me that I should get some things made. I'm going to wait until Vietnam though, apparently it's cheaper and the quality is the same. Now to start thinking about what I want!! Custom shoes too...

After Jess' dress fitting we went back to the hotel to get our bags and catch a taxi to the airport. There were some tears shed among some of us as we said goodbye. I will be seeing them all again in a few weeks though! So Kayla, Erin and I hopped into the cab and went to the airport.

The flight was very uneventful although it was delayed by an hour and then I was the last one to board because I was sent on a hunting expedition for more beers.. The 5 people from the other group that was also staying in Bangkok were also on our flight and we hung out with them in the airport before the flight.

When we arrived at the Ho Chi Minh airport getting our visas was a pain. We applied online ahead of time and still had to give them our entire life story and pay again. But, we all made it into the country, found our group leaders and made it to the hotel.

We're staying at the Saigon Balo Hotel (Saigon is same same for Ho Chi Minh) and of course the first thing we did when we got there was go for pho. It was average... I guess we'll have to find a place other than the first one we see for some good stuff ;) but it was still tasty and filled us up!

Things seem to be much much cheaper here and maybe I won't spend so much money :p beers from the corner store are buy 4 get one free and for all 5 it's about $4.50 CAD. The exchange rate is about 17,000 Vietnamese Dong to $1 CAD. Makes doing the math difficult :p but for less than $5 for 5 beers there are no complaints from me. We hung out in one girls room playing cards and getting to know one another while the rest of the peoples flights to arrive. Seems like it's going to be a good trip!Read more