Maybe going to get back into this or I'm going to just be posting occasionally? Anyway! Huge life changes on the Me front! #1 The love of my life (Nick) and I have now travelled to Tokyo, Japan, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand! We will be travelling this year as well just don't know when (it's already August!). We went on this amazing vacation last year in September so Sept 2017!
You wouldn't think of Ho Chi Minh as a destination vacation spot right? You've never been more wrong! Ho Chi Minh is a large city but is way more interesting compared to some of the others I've been too! Keep in mind I enjoy adventuring more than travelling and thoroughly enjoy third world countries so if you don't mine exhaust, running through a street filled with motorcycles and mopeds and an odd exchange rate then it might not be for you! When we were there the currency was roughly 22,500 Vietnamese Dongs for 1 US dollar, which is quite the exchange rate. I bought tons of awesome souvenirs and clothing which is all I still wear, almost a year later after being home.
We paid $540 Round trip from US (Newark) - Tokyo - Ho Chi Minh - Sketchy bus ride to Phnom Penh - Phuket - Bangkok and home! We may have started the vacation in Tokyo but for me all the fun was when we left Tokyo and got to Vietnam so i'll be starting there. We landed in Ho Chi Mi in the evening I believe and we waited in line to receive our visas. Prior to exiting the plane an older gentleman seemed unresponsive on the plane so his wife smacked him still rendering him unconscience, he was laid on the floor while paramedics came on board and usually in America we would wait for the man to get taken off of the plane right? Nope. We were instructed to leave the plane anyway and just step over him, so we did. Here is the first wacky thing to happen in Vietnam and there are many others too. The date mostly everywhere is read at dd/mm/yyyy BUT I forgot to brief my travel companion on this so he misread the date on our visas as giving us one day instead of a month so after arguing through an intense language barrier we figured out we were wrong and hurried along our way to get to our hostel! After getting to our hostel we realized we were about three stories up a beautiful granite staircase and once we were up we unpacked and then went to grab a bite to eat! The next day we visited the Cu Chi tunnels as part of a tour that our hostel booked for $6USD and it was more than worth the money, Vietnam is VERY budget friendly. I never knew what 90+ degree humidity feels like and honestly I could go a life time without again even though with my travel bug we will not spared. The tour was long and awesome, we started off walking through the forest and being told of the war, what happened and how it effects people today. We were shown guns, artillery, the option to shoot a Bazooka, we walked though 100+ meter tiny tunnels that the Vietnamese travelled through, lived in and attacked from, Nick opted to do an extra one while I was dying from the heat and being a solid bubble of sweat. We had the option to take a photo inside of the one the holes which I've attached a photo of Nick enjoying! Mind you, before this vacation I knew I had this photo OP and I wanted this photo so bad, I had bragged and been very excited for such a photo and what happens you ask? I fall into it! I got lowered into it and then slipped into another tunnel immediately and while being covered in sweat, I was now covered in sweat and dirt! A few minutes later I got pulled out and more people didn't talk to us for the remainder of the tour, I was still in good spirits even though my ego was slightly bruised! We continued on our tour while I went through all of my wet wipes in my purse. After getting on the bus it rained an insane amount in a tiny period of time, we watched the sun set which was beautiful as we passed through small quaint Vietnamese towns. Our bus driver hit a motorcyclist and continued on his merry way without even a glance (usual occurrence there I suppose!). After our wild day we enjoyed a night out on the town and walked around while Nick enjoyed the night life and I enjoyed the bargain shopping life!
We spent another few days here walking around, shopping, eating and enjoying ourselves! We look forward to going back but next time we are going to go way more places than just Ho Chi Minh/ Saigon and I suggest you do the same! Next time we will have to do a tour down the River and about three more cities! Keeping popping in for my next post which will be at some point soon probably!
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