Majestic Ho Chi Minh City

We have 30 minutes till this cafe closes so will do my best (Jennifer). HCMC was fast and furious, a million motorbikes going in all directions cutting in front of buses and trucks, everybody honking horns. Since Brett wrote Episode 1 we have now flown to Dalat which is up in the highlands so the weather is wonderful after the heat and humidity of HCMC. We had a brilliant final night in HCMC, staying at the Majestic hotel, which goes back to the French colonial era. We had an enormous room wi...

We asked ourselves what one word would describe our first impression of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). Short answer is that there isn't ONE..........Bewildering, Jaw Dropping certainly! The drive from the airport was the scariest ever with hundreds of motor cycles and seemingly no road rules. Cars certainly rule the roads sounding the horn every few metres to warn other road users of the impending vehicle passing by. We were very relieved to arrive at the hotel in one piece and trembled at the thought...

Geez, only a few more hours here before heading to the airport for the trip home. HCMC is really a fantastic city that grows on you slowly as it reveals its secrets. A lot like NY, it is a sprawling metropolis with many, many different areas with distinct personalities. Looking at the map we already know that most of Saigon will go undiscovered. For our last day here D and I rented a motor bike and headed over to the the Majestic Hotel for their renowned brunch (per the recommendation of our ...

Salut de Saigon! We've been in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for the last few days, and the best way to describe it is through some key sensory words. Sounds: beep beep beep, HONK, beep beep, HONK, beep, "Massage," "Would you like massage?" "Sir, sir!" (Interestingly, the serious beeeping stops at 11pm and restarts at 7am) Smells: Exhaust, Urine, Barbeque, Grilled...things, Feces, Durian!, Dust UPDATED: Dust, cigarette smoke. NOTE: It's quite possible that you'll smell most of these things walking ...

We had to leave Nha Trang for Saigon so it was all pretty whistle stop. It was another long bus journey but thankfully this was by day. I don't think I could take another night bus! We were both looking forward to Saigon and, as a special treat and a kind of last hurrah to the trip, we went all out and booked a suite at the Majestic Hotel. (It's where Fowler has drinks in 'The Quiet American' and came highly recommended by the LP). It was absolutely fantastic!! After months of not much, there...

We had a fabulous time in Vietnam. Three days exploring Saigon - great hotel, shopping and food. The heat and the number of motor bikes was overwhelming however we became experts at crossing the road. Our day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels and Cao Dai temple was fantastic - it was great to get out of the crazy city into the countryside and see rural villages and rubber plantations. We then flew to the mountains of Dalat and had a great day with easy riders touring the mountains - coffee and flowe...

Sinh Chao (sin chow) is our morning greeting from Sinh, our local tour guide. Not as catchy as 'Are You Ready For An Adventure' but Lauren gets to hear both anyway! Our tour arrives at the Cu Chi Tunnels following a 1.5 hour bus ride. The digging of these underground tunnels began in the 1940's and enough buckets of dirt were dumped into the river to create 210 miles of networking tunnels on 3 levels! The remaining 75-mile complex is now a war memorial park. With a guide, we crawl through a 2...

Vietnam reopened to tourism in 1995! The official language is no longer French and most speak English fairly well. They LOVE the US dollar! One-dollar bills in your pocket are a must-have. Our tour bus returns to Ho Chi Minh City and we're set loose among the 3-million people and all their motorcycles! Streets are a maze of traffic coming from all directions. Their core-balance is amazing here as they can balance anything on a motorcycle. Families of 3-4 people, building supplies, stacks and...

The last thing that I had said to Jo, when she left NYC a few weeks ago, was "see you in Saigon." It was so surreal to see her walk into the Majestic hotel yesterday. We set her stuff down and immediately left the hotel to explore. We got about one block away from the hotel when we realized that we were going to have to cross the street. This may sound like a simple task, but in a country with no road signs and no rules it is really terrifying! We had heard from people that you just walk out ...

Fri 7th Oct Flew all night - arrived in Saigon in the morning. Everything seems quite nice. Big step up from Delhi. Billions of people on Motorbikes, and first site of the little straw hats!. The Majestic hotel is fabulous - on the bank of the Saigon river. We had dinner on the rooftop restuarant. Again, excellent. The food and the view were fantastic.