Monday 31 December 2012
Our New Years Eve dinner.
Our group for dinner and drinks at the hotel. The packed streets. From the roof top.
New Years Eve
I got up early and headed to the gym for my freebie workout. There were only a handful of people at the gym which is nice as the equipment is available. A hour and and a half of sweating and grunting and I was on my way home to meet Marie for breakfast. I grabbed some fresh croissants and a small loaf of fresh whole wheat bread from the bakery by the gym. Teasers!
Today we embarked on a walking tour of the city as outlined on a map from the Lonely Planet Travel guide. Once we got our bearings we wandered through the street market, grubby and smelly as most are, and worked our way back to the Bitexco Tower. From there the book took us to Tran Hung Dao statue(you can google this one). We passed several other landmark buildings and ended up at the square of the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. The post office is also in the book because the walls are painted with historic maps. While not a landmark historically, Marie saw a shoe she thought was worthy of note! LOL
Of course, there just happened to be a coffee shop across the street and it just happened to be coffee time. Yeah from Marie! It is called The Coffee Bean and is very similar to a Starbucks. We met two Aussie gals at the table next to us. Karen and Trish were on there way to Nah Trang. We exchanged travel stories and info on must see places as well as places to stay. After wishing them farewell we headed back to our backpacker area. Marie went to get her tootsies pampered and I to the coffee shop to write in this blog. Good air conditioning and excellent WiFi connection plus good coffee just like we are used to at home. Most places here only make the Vietnamese coffee which tastes sweet with a chocolate like flavouring. I always ask if they have espresso before going any further. We were at one place where they said they make cappuccinos but the girl seemed hesitant so I was suspicious. I didn't see any machines for making espresso so I asked the girl to show me how she makes it. She grabbed a jar of instant coffee and showed she adds hot milk. Ugh! Yes, always ask if they do espresso, if they say no move on!
On the street just down from our hotel was a lady with a huge pan of fried potatoes. There was a guy eyeing up the potatoes, as were we, and in German he said the potatoes looked delicious. He ordered a serving so she fried an egg and threw on some green onions and served them with hot sauce. They looked so good we thought we should have some as well. We got our order, no egg, and parked our selves on some steps to dig in. Surprise, it wasn't potatoes but instead was like a chunk of tapioca fried. It was still delicious but we were laughing because the German fellow was licking his chops thinking he was getting "Brat Kartoffel" hot from the pan.
Madam Cuc put on a New Years dinner for us, a very tasty and interesting chicken soup with quail eggs and noodles. She also cooked chicken which was wonderfully spiced. I sampled my first taste of some local wine. Ok but not one I would rush out to buy.
The streets were packed and the scooter traffic was insane. We have never seen the likes. A sea of headlights and helmets! We went for a walk to the boulevard to see what everybody was doing. It was total chaos. The pictures should tell it all.
Just before midnight we headed up to the roof to watch the fire works. They were spectacular with a steady barrage of multiple explosions for 15 minutes!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Today we embarked on a walking tour of the city as outlined on a map from the Lonely Planet Travel guide. Once we got our bearings we wandered through the street market, grubby and smelly as most are, and worked our way back to the Bitexco Tower. From there the book took us to Tran Hung Dao statue(you can google this one). We passed several other landmark buildings and ended up at the square of the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. The post office is also in the book because the walls are painted with historic maps. While not a landmark historically, Marie saw a shoe she thought was worthy of note! LOL
Of course, there just happened to be a coffee shop across the street and it just happened to be coffee time. Yeah from Marie! It is called The Coffee Bean and is very similar to a Starbucks. We met two Aussie gals at the table next to us. Karen and Trish were on there way to Nah Trang. We exchanged travel stories and info on must see places as well as places to stay. After wishing them farewell we headed back to our backpacker area. Marie went to get her tootsies pampered and I to the coffee shop to write in this blog. Good air conditioning and excellent WiFi connection plus good coffee just like we are used to at home. Most places here only make the Vietnamese coffee which tastes sweet with a chocolate like flavouring. I always ask if they have espresso before going any further. We were at one place where they said they make cappuccinos but the girl seemed hesitant so I was suspicious. I didn't see any machines for making espresso so I asked the girl to show me how she makes it. She grabbed a jar of instant coffee and showed she adds hot milk. Ugh! Yes, always ask if they do espresso, if they say no move on!
On the street just down from our hotel was a lady with a huge pan of fried potatoes. There was a guy eyeing up the potatoes, as were we, and in German he said the potatoes looked delicious. He ordered a serving so she fried an egg and threw on some green onions and served them with hot sauce. They looked so good we thought we should have some as well. We got our order, no egg, and parked our selves on some steps to dig in. Surprise, it wasn't potatoes but instead was like a chunk of tapioca fried. It was still delicious but we were laughing because the German fellow was licking his chops thinking he was getting "Brat Kartoffel" hot from the pan.
Madam Cuc put on a New Years dinner for us, a very tasty and interesting chicken soup with quail eggs and noodles. She also cooked chicken which was wonderfully spiced. I sampled my first taste of some local wine. Ok but not one I would rush out to buy.
The streets were packed and the scooter traffic was insane. We have never seen the likes. A sea of headlights and helmets! We went for a walk to the boulevard to see what everybody was doing. It was total chaos. The pictures should tell it all.
Just before midnight we headed up to the roof to watch the fire works. They were spectacular with a steady barrage of multiple explosions for 15 minutes!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Dec 30th . . . . .
Pictures from the tower............
Pictures of Marie and me is from our happy hour by our hotel. Fun to sit street side and watch the people. Even though the street is always congested the area has somewhat of a charm.
Pictures of Marie and me is from our happy hour by our hotel. Fun to sit street side and watch the people. Even though the street is always congested the area has somewhat of a charm.
Dec 30th
Today was a walk-about-the-town day. We started our day a bit later, slept in, slow breakfast and idle chat with the other guests. Fritz and Susie from New Zealand left yesterday but Eric and Jerry from Penticton (yep we were surprised) Richard and Lucy from the UK and Claudia from then USA are here for a few more days.
Eric educated us on cruising. They have been on numerous cruises and manage to shop around for crazy cheap deals. Richard and Lucy just got engaged and both left their jobs to travel for 7 months before they settle down to do the family thing. Fritz and Susie gave us some insight into the northern part of Vietnam. They loved Sapa and after showing us pictures they took we can understand why. Claudia is heading up to Chang Mai, Thailand for a months stay in a guest house at only $180US for the month.
Marie and I strolled around the block and decided it was time for soup (Pho). We stopped in at a corner restaurant which we assumed was their equivalent of a fast food place, and tried the chicken and rice noodle soup. It was ok except we were back to having chicken parts, mostly boiled skin pieces, instead of the meat from the chicken. We decided it was time to avoid these types of restaurants.
I convinced Marie to go with me to find the Get Fit Gym. We left the tourist area by crossing the bridge and found ourselves amidst only locals. It really wasn't that far but outside of Marie's comfort level. We found the gym and it was quite modern, similar to ours at home. They wanted $10 for a single visit which I felt was a bit steep for this city, after all the last gym was a buck. While showing me around the gym and a lot of charm and negotiating on my part (yes whining) the girl offered me a free pass for one visit.
Off we went to explore more of the city. To Marie's delight there was another major intersection for us to cross. We waited, stepped out into traffic, and then for the first time had to step back on to the curb. Yikes! Lucky for Marie there was a policeman on the corner as well and with a quick gesture from me he walked us through the traffic across the intersection. I didn't win any brownie points from Marie for walking her into traffic. Oops. In my defence it is customary here to walk across the traffic in order to cross the street. Attempting to wait for a break would only be an act of futility. It would never happen!
We walked onto the bridge and encountered a lot of uniformed personnel, all gazing down upon the rivers water watching a dragon boat competition. The bridge was the start and finish line. The fire department was on hand in their boats.
After a short pause to watch the rowers we continued on down the side streets passing by a lot of small hardware shops. We weren't sure where the road would take us other than we would come out by the main river. At that point we arrived at the Bitexco Financial Tower. Turns out that for ten bucks we could go to the observation deck on the 49th floor. The view was spectacular! Well worth the visit. Sixty eight floors reaching 262.5 meters up to the sky. A helipad on the 50th floor. It is the 5th tallest building in the world. The elevators are super sonic speed travellers at 7 meters per second.
Eric educated us on cruising. They have been on numerous cruises and manage to shop around for crazy cheap deals. Richard and Lucy just got engaged and both left their jobs to travel for 7 months before they settle down to do the family thing. Fritz and Susie gave us some insight into the northern part of Vietnam. They loved Sapa and after showing us pictures they took we can understand why. Claudia is heading up to Chang Mai, Thailand for a months stay in a guest house at only $180US for the month.
Marie and I strolled around the block and decided it was time for soup (Pho). We stopped in at a corner restaurant which we assumed was their equivalent of a fast food place, and tried the chicken and rice noodle soup. It was ok except we were back to having chicken parts, mostly boiled skin pieces, instead of the meat from the chicken. We decided it was time to avoid these types of restaurants.
I convinced Marie to go with me to find the Get Fit Gym. We left the tourist area by crossing the bridge and found ourselves amidst only locals. It really wasn't that far but outside of Marie's comfort level. We found the gym and it was quite modern, similar to ours at home. They wanted $10 for a single visit which I felt was a bit steep for this city, after all the last gym was a buck. While showing me around the gym and a lot of charm and negotiating on my part (yes whining) the girl offered me a free pass for one visit.
Off we went to explore more of the city. To Marie's delight there was another major intersection for us to cross. We waited, stepped out into traffic, and then for the first time had to step back on to the curb. Yikes! Lucky for Marie there was a policeman on the corner as well and with a quick gesture from me he walked us through the traffic across the intersection. I didn't win any brownie points from Marie for walking her into traffic. Oops. In my defence it is customary here to walk across the traffic in order to cross the street. Attempting to wait for a break would only be an act of futility. It would never happen!
We walked onto the bridge and encountered a lot of uniformed personnel, all gazing down upon the rivers water watching a dragon boat competition. The bridge was the start and finish line. The fire department was on hand in their boats.
After a short pause to watch the rowers we continued on down the side streets passing by a lot of small hardware shops. We weren't sure where the road would take us other than we would come out by the main river. At that point we arrived at the Bitexco Financial Tower. Turns out that for ten bucks we could go to the observation deck on the 49th floor. The view was spectacular! Well worth the visit. Sixty eight floors reaching 262.5 meters up to the sky. A helipad on the 50th floor. It is the 5th tallest building in the world. The elevators are super sonic speed travellers at 7 meters per second.
Sunday 30 December 2012
More from 29th .......
Marie started into the tunnel and then thought " no friggin way" and turned around quickly. The people in front of her were stalled out and the tunnel is extremely stuffy and hot. Our guide, Jimmy, said "No farting" because there is no air movement! LOL. It goes for one hundred meters with several exits along the way. I encountered a people jam by the third exit so I also ducked out. No fun being stuck in there. This stretch of tunnel was actually enlarged so the tourists could fit and experience a bit of what it was like for the Vietnamese. The original tunnels were much smaller and they crawled on their bellies pulling themselves along on their elbows. Scary! The tunnels originally also had narrow air shafts for ventilation but only enough for the soldiers to stay for a couple of hours.
The people of Cu Chi started building them in 1948 as a defence for their village. Cu Chi was an important military point during the Vietnam war as it was the gate way to Saigon. That is why there was so much fighting to control the area.
The trap shown has bamboo spikes. We also saw several other types of booby traps. Very scary! The image of the manakins sawing the bomb shows how they salvaged ammunition, which did not detonate, from the Americans and then utilized the gun powder to build land mines.
The people of Cu Chi started building them in 1948 as a defence for their village. Cu Chi was an important military point during the Vietnam war as it was the gate way to Saigon. That is why there was so much fighting to control the area.
The trap shown has bamboo spikes. We also saw several other types of booby traps. Very scary! The image of the manakins sawing the bomb shows how they salvaged ammunition, which did not detonate, from the Americans and then utilized the gun powder to build land mines.
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