L-R: Michelle Fitzgibbon, Ho Chi Minh, Sancha MulcahyPresidential Palace, Saigon, Vietnam 10.06.2006 (ap: Reuters)
Thursday 8 June
We flew Vietnam Airlines from Danang (30 km from Hoi An) to Saigon on a superb Boeing 777 400 !! We got a taxi from the airport into the backpacker area of the city (probably got ripped off but we did go to the official taxi rank ! anyway). The guesthouse was a small place but the room was fine - AC and TV ! The Guns'n'Roses bar next door shut at 11.30pm so we could actually get a decent nights sleep although going to bed any earlier was useless unless you actually liked falling asleep to "Sweet Child of Mine".
On Friday we did a scout of the area and planned our exit out of Vietnam - the aim to get a cheapish flight from HCMC to Phuket for a well deserved holiday within a holiday. ( I know the remarks we'll get for that but we have been doing some serious siteseeing and travelling - we need a rest !). After visiting numerous agencies and checking online airlines we sorted our flights ( now with Thai airlines) and organised a city tour for the following day. I also managed to find a very cool website called latestays.com - gives discounted short notice prices for very nice hotels in south east asia.
The city tour on Saturday 10 June took in some temples (one buddhist and one chinese) - the Giac Lam pagoda and Thien Hau temple, China town, Binh Tay market -the local wholesale market where they literally sell everything in bulk - eg. plastic bags, cardboard boxes, clothes of all kinds, electronics, food, clothes pegs, flowers, DIY stuff, motor engines and accessories. The afternoon trip brought us to the War Remnants museum, the Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame Cathedral (more french influences).
We flew Vietnam Airlines from Danang (30 km from Hoi An) to Saigon on a superb Boeing 777 400 !! We got a taxi from the airport into the backpacker area of the city (probably got ripped off but we did go to the official taxi rank ! anyway). The guesthouse was a small place but the room was fine - AC and TV ! The Guns'n'Roses bar next door shut at 11.30pm so we could actually get a decent nights sleep although going to bed any earlier was useless unless you actually liked falling asleep to "Sweet Child of Mine".
On Friday we did a scout of the area and planned our exit out of Vietnam - the aim to get a cheapish flight from HCMC to Phuket for a well deserved holiday within a holiday. ( I know the remarks we'll get for that but we have been doing some serious siteseeing and travelling - we need a rest !). After visiting numerous agencies and checking online airlines we sorted our flights ( now with Thai airlines) and organised a city tour for the following day. I also managed to find a very cool website called latestays.com - gives discounted short notice prices for very nice hotels in south east asia.
The city tour on Saturday 10 June took in some temples (one buddhist and one chinese) - the Giac Lam pagoda and Thien Hau temple, China town, Binh Tay market -the local wholesale market where they literally sell everything in bulk - eg. plastic bags, cardboard boxes, clothes of all kinds, electronics, food, clothes pegs, flowers, DIY stuff, motor engines and accessories. The afternoon trip brought us to the War Remnants museum, the Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame Cathedral (more french influences).
(See also updates under Siem Reap & What's Hot, What's Not)
2 comments:
Glad to see Patrick is making a show in some of the pictures. I was getting worried that he was taking all the pictures! Love the one w/ Patrick and the girl with the other animals...wonder how much that shot cost you!
I think I gave her 5000 VND (dong), which is 20 cent/30 cents. Probably lots for her!
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