Rex Hotel Ho Chi Minh City

Arrived to a mad hot house of activity. Greeted by a screaming horde of taxi drivers. Pre-paid a trip into town at the desk inside the airport. There is more than one desk and some charge more than others. Our cab cost us $5 USD. Staying at the Rex Hotel in District 1. Booked online months ago for a rate 0f $70 USD.

While there is an entire layer of dirt poor people in the city, there is also something interesting around every corner. The city is also the primary destination for many bright, educated professionals from throughout the country. Our friend Ha Giang Chau (Anna) met us at the fancy new Ton Son Nhut airport; and sadly saw us off at the end. We took her to Thailand where she said that the prices for everything were lower than in Viet Nam. I speak a little Vietnamese. This helped when we were in...

In case you're wondering why this entry refers to Saigon, it's because that's what the Southerners refer to it as. The name Ho Chi Minh comes from the North and although reunification occurred long ago, there are still subtle issues between Northerners and Southerners. FYI, the Vietnam War as we call it is referred to as the Civil War by the Southerners and The American War by the northerners. We spent the 24th doing a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels that the VC's used during a number of conflicts...

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam... formerly known as Saigon during the Vietnam War. Yep, thirty or so years after we were at war here, I'm visiting and the locals love us (or at least love our money). After five days spent here, I can definitely say it was one of my favorite stops. The first thing you notice is that instead of cars, mopeds are literally everywhere. You cannot take a picture of the street without getting fifty of them in the shot, with some holding as many as five family members. Th...

5am came around very quickly. We dragged ourselves out of bed and headed downstairs at about 5:25 to find the reception area in darkness. There was just enough light for us to make out 3 motorbikes, several pushbikes and 2 men sleeping in camp cots. We sat down at one of the tables and wondered what to do. We couldn't even get out because the door was chained shut! 5:30 came and a mobile phone alarm went off and one of the guys got up, unlocked the door and walked outside and hailed us 2 cycl...

After enjoying the airconditioned 4hour drive though the south of Vietnam we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) smack on peak hour - oh hang on.... every hour is peakhour in Saigon as we were to discover! It was very different to any other part of vietnam we had seen thus far - it is very cosmopolitan and there were cars and thousands upon thousands of motorbikes coming from every angle and it really was where old world and new world collided. Our driver manovered his way through the heavy ...

We were all so tired of Hanoi, landing in Ho Chi Minh was so nice although we didn't know what would be here. The airport is really small and not too professional but it works. Since we met the Mafia at the Hanoi airport, I needed to make sure I was a better family tour guide this time. A man approached me and asked me if I needed a taxi. THIS TIME I checked to make sure he had an ID working with the airport. There was one around his neck. He offered $15 and I got him down to $10 for the thre...