Ho Chi Minh Walking Tour & War Museum

First thing in the morning we went in search of some breakfast, didn't see much and ended up at McDonalds again. 3 times in the maximum for me I think! Though they do have chicken and rice and pork dishes on the menu here which could be interesting.

We then met up with the entire group, did some introductions, and went out for a walking tour of the city. I can confidently tell you that I already love Vietnam!

The number one thing that stands out to me is holy traffic! It's worse than Nepal and I honestly thought that would never be achieved. There are hundreds of motor bikes everywhere, crosswalk signals don't get followed and it's just general chaos. I like it! But it's insane. You just gotta walk out into the street confidently and hope all goes well ;)

The mix in architecture it pretty cool too. There are lots of French style buildings, which makes sense considering they ruled here for a while, mixed in with smaller squishier buildings which remind me of Nepal again, Kathmandu in particular. I'll try to get a decent picture of them at some point but they're just narrow and tall buildings with no space between them between 4 and 6 storeys high. And then there are random modern buildings with lots of glass interspersed. Interesting! But considering the war ended about 40 years ago it's not so surprising to see so much variation.

We ended the walking tour at the War Remnants Museum. That was a very powerful experience, similar emotions and thoughts evoked as the WWII museums I've been too. It's disgusting to see what was done to the people. Especially the chemical damage that still affects people today... the Agent Orange chemicals. There was actually a shop in the museum with workers who were victims, very sad. I don't want to write too much about the experience because it brings up angst and anger even thinking about it again. War sucks. But I'm glad that it's over and the people are starting to make a comeback!

From the war museum the group leaders, Landon and John, said they had a surprise for us. Which was a ride on a motorbike taxi to the market! I was terrified at first to be completely honest. But they say you should do something every day that scares you right? So I just got on and went along for the ride! It was scary but not as bad as it could have been. We only almost hit one bus. My driver was very nice and took it easy, he pointed out different buildings to me, and didn't weave or speed too too much. Like I said only a few close calls ;) face your fears! On this trip we'll be doing a full day motorcycle trip as a travel day so better get used to it now rather than later haha. I am looking forward to it though! This was a good little introduction into it.

At the market we were sent on a mission to find pj's for a theme party on the beach at our next destination. I was wondering why pj's at first, but when you walk into the market they're everywhere! I found a pair that are super soft and probably way too hot for a beach party because they're full pants and a shirt but I fully intend on wearing them at home again. Clearly they're made for local women too because the XXL is a snug fit..

After the market we went back to the hotel, took a quick nap and went out for our first group dinner. We went to a nearby bar that had a foosball table, pools tables, a DJ, and shisha. They brought out a whole bunch of different dishes for us to try and it was delicious! My favourite was apparently just called "clay pot" but it tasted like a black bean pepper sauce over pork and tofu. Delicious!! I'll be trying to find that one again. There were also some curries, spring rolls, morning glory with garlic, and a few other dishes. Was a good way to get to know each other! We of course stayed after eating to play some games and do some dancing. At first we were the only ones there but it got quite busy by the end of the night! Fun times. Oh, they also made a decent bloody mary, first once since leaving home and it was magical ;)Read more