BeaSisTravel

Today's aim was to pack in as much as possible - and I certainly think we achieved that! Waking early as expected, we got ready and wandered down to the hotel breakfast place. What a pleasant surprise - with a great mix of Asian and European food. We started as we meant to continue and had some local Pho (beef soup with noodles) for breakfast - all made in front of us. Even the filter coffee was half decent. Suitably charged for the day, we loosely followed the route we had planned, to catch the key sights we wanted to see. What a delight to walk through a local park and see the locals enjoy morning coffee surrounded by a sound of chirping birds. Men doing what looked like tai chi, several groups of scout-like kids dancing to music and peals of laughter coming from another group of kids playing some kind of game with blind folds - all added to our first real experience of Ho Chi Minh City. Right - on to some serious sightseeing now... and the nearby Independence Palace...

All of the back up plans were unnecessary and the weather gods had a bit of a grin on. That made sure our travel plans were uninterrupted and a safe arrival in Ho Chi Minh City was a done deal. The only blemish on the airport arrival routine was when the bag carousel got stuck... glad it wasn't one of our bags that got wedged in the carousel so badly that it took at least 3 men and even more minutes to quieten the annoying beeping siren and get the bags moving again! The hotel we picked is in District 1 - the heart of the city. Despite the time difference from home and the long travel day, we were pretty determined to get out and about for a quick look-see on the first night. A couple of easy road crossings and we found a genuine local place that allowed us to sit at small chairs and tables on the street with a couple of cold beers and people-watch. The traffic is as crazy as we were told about, the pedestrians are a fair match for the traffic and so far, all of the people have...

Welcome to Helen and Karla's travel blog! We will write about our adventures in Vietnam and Cambodia in July/August 2017. We'd love you to join us on the journey!