Cu Chi Tunnels and HCMC

Last day today :(

This morning we had a private tour booked to the Cu Chi tunnels which were used by the Viet Cong during the war. It was really interesting and very claustrophobic. Another confirmation that we’d both be pretty useless in war.

Back in Ho Chi Min we went for a walk for our last Banh Mi and a couple of drinks before deciding to head back to the food market from last night for some last street food, ticking off getting a scooter taxi through Saigon. It was absolutely delicious and super cheap as always (we shared 5 dishes and spent about £3.20)

We walked the 50 mins back home taking in all the side streets and people randomly doing karaoke in the street and then had a final drink on the rooftop of our hotel before going to bed.

Sad that we are leaving tomorrow. It’s been an excellent trip.

General observations to end on

- All the transport has been amazing. Every bus was on time/early, all the tours were well organised, and we had no issues with taxis

- Everyone we came across was very friendly and helpful and tourism is obviously very important

- The only downside to this is there seems to have become a big reliance on 5 star reviews and some companies bribe people for reviews so it’s hard to know what to trust. We only came across it twice, no bribes but they did expect us to give a 5* review in front of them

- Every single shower we had was amazing. Hot (often too hot) and powerful, even in the hostels and homestays

- Everywhere we’ve been has felt very safe. We also expected to come across begging or aggressive selling outside bars and restaurants but we experienced it very little.

- The Vietnamese love christmas, there were decorations absolutely everywhere, and stockings on our final hotel door which was cute

- Cheap food (street food) is generally better then the more expensive restaurant food, in our experience

- Aside from bahn mi baguettes which were excellent, the bread is rubbish

- All the landscapes are beautiful, and generally unspoilt by litter

- The roads and traffic are crazy and seem manic when you first encounter them, but everyone is hyper aware of everyone else and it works. We felt much safer on the back of a bike than we would in London

- Karaoke is huge and there are karaoke bars everywhere. We also quite often saw people sat around on the street having dinner whilst one person sang into a microphone, seemingly being ignored by everyone else Czytaj więcej