"Short Stop HCMC" a Ho Chi Minh City Travel Page by Gillybob

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Notre Dame, Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) was the third stage in our Vietnam and Cambodia private tour.

We landed at HCMC and our third guide, Loi, was waiting to meet us at the airport. Our first stop was to check-in at our hotel and we got things mixed up straight away about what time we needed to meet Loi but eventually we went down and he took us to lunch. After lunch, we took a city tour of HCMC. We started at Binh Tay market which was a hive of activity and has a statue and small garden in the middle. From the market we head through Chinatown to Thien Hau Pagoda which was very busy as the 15th of each month is an important day to go to pagoda and say prayers. There are some very large, impressive statues in the pagoda.

We then headed to the Jade Emperor Pagoda which has two pools outside where poeple can release fish and turtles as part of their offerings. Inside are some more very impressive warrior status.

Afterwards we visited Saigon's own Notre Dame Cathedral which was built by the French. We then visited the Post Office which is the largest in Vietnam. Then it was back through the busy streets of HCMC to our hotel for a rest before yet another wonderful evening meal, this time at Pho 2000 - famous because Bill Clinton ate there.

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Popping rice

Day 2

It was an early start to the day as we headed out to the Mekong Delta. Our first stop is a Cao Dai temple in Long Ba province before carrying on to Vinh Long to board our boat around the Mekong Delta. Our first stop was at a set of local workshops producing rice paper, coconut candy and popped rice and noodles; as we pass each workshop we stop to try the produce. At the first we picked up some great coconut candy for the folks back home and at the popped rice workshop my friend bought some snake wine which has a whole scorpion inside the bottle!

We continued to cruise around the channels and pass Cai Ba floating market before stopping at Binh Hoa orchard island for lunch which included a very nicely presented elephant fish. On the boat back to the bus home, we drank fresh coconut milk straight from the coconuts prepared by Loi.

Returning to HCMC, we passed through some pretty spectacular storms which just prove that Vietnam's roads can soon turn into new rivers! Another lovely evening meal finished the day off.

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Warrior Statue

Day 3

Its an early start as we leave Vietnam today and head to Cambodia and to the trip highlight - Angkor Wat! Loi picked us up and got us to the airport with plenty of time for some final shopping. Vietnam has been a great trip and I would certainly recommend it to anyone.