Day 4: Sat 2 Nov - Ho Chi Minh City

-
26-35 deg C, a balmy day

We had an outing before breakfast to see the new birds learning to sing from the older birds in the Tao Dan Park District. In 2016, the cages were in an actual park; today they are outside a coffee shop/cafe so their owners can enjoy themselves while their birds sing. They were all quite tiny birds but made a lot of beautiful noise. The owners move their cages around periodically for the bird/s to listen to a variety of birds song. They made a lovely sound above the hum and beeping of the traffic whizzing by on a nearby road.

Back to the hotel for breakfast, then a little down time before setting off again at 9am for more sightseeing. We were heading in the direction of the memorial to the Monk who self-immolated in 1963 as a silent protest against the South Vietnamese government's religious discrimination and persecution of Buddhists. A very solemn experience.

It was almost time for mornos and we found a place called Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Cafe and the choices we all made were good. Together with our iced tea drinks, we had a custard/Portuguese tart. We wandered home via Book Street and a shopping centre with a huge Christmas display at its entrance. Everything inside was very shiny and expensive. We left empty-handed.

We had lunch at the hotel cafe again, then back to the room for a nana nap. Greg went out again with Bob for a slow wander while Wendy caught up on some travel admin.

Dinner was had at Phở 2000, about 200m from the hotel. We dined here in 2016, and the meals were large and tasty. Forgot to get photos.

Our tour starts tomorrow at 8am.

Birds learning to sing

The Venerable Thich Quảng Đức Monument







Book Street



Shopping centre/complex

A squirrel

A beautiful orchid


Mariamman Hindu temple





An old restaurant next door to our dinner venue last night



Tree lopping HCM City style - the guy on the ground holds the rope firm to ensure the branch does not fall too quickly. No road closures though.



A road with no traffic, it was a rare sight

A BIG watermelon in a park

Desert rose, Sabi star, kudu, mock azalea, or impala lily


Palais de justice, aka Ho Chi Minh City People's Court

HCM City at night

























Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 14: Tue 12 Nov - Hoi An to Hue

-
Image
25-27 deg C Ride: 0km "Transfer beyond Danang to take on Hai Van Pass and climb 500 metres over 10 kms. After lunch, turn off the main highway and take a coastal side road for 44 km almost all the way to our destination. Energetic riders will make it all the way into Hue. Climb the Hai Van Pass, ride along the peninsula to Hue. Overnight in Hue. Hotel: Duy Tan Hotel. Cycle: 60km+" We were at breakfast early than usual as we had a 7:30am start. We were supposed to ride away from the hotel for 20km, however, it was still raining quite heavily, so we opted for the bus. We arrived at Danang Beach, and five brave souls rode away about 30 minutes later; they were keen to ride the Hai Van Pass. Alas, the rain gods were not listening, and about 7km later the riders had to stop and take shelter in a coffee shop. By this time, however, the bus had gone straight past them as the driver did not know they had stopped. We did a u-turn about 10km up the road and caught up with the riders, b...
Read more

Day 9: Thu 7 Nov - Nha Trang

-
Image
24 - 28deg Walk: 8km "A day with boat trip to islands. Experience the coast of Nha Trang aboard a boat as we set out in the morning, for our first stop at the aquarium. We then head out to Hon Mun Island where we have the chance for swimming and snorkelling in the crystal clear waters. From here we continue to Hon Tam Island where you have the choice of relaxing on the beach or for the energetic – there is a choice of water sports. Our lunch stop is at the fishing village of Lang Chai where we have time to explore before boarding our boat back to Nha Trang harbor. Overnight in Nha Trang. Cycle: 0km." Unfortunately Wendy was not up to getting out of bed today due to a rather nasty lurgy. We're hoping that a day of complete rest will help her recover. After breakfast the remaining nine met in the foyer to decide if the weather was good enough for a boat trip. We decided to take the chance, which turned out to be correct. So it was onto the bus for a short ride to the harbou...
Read more

Day 6: Mon 4 Nov - Ho Chi Minh City

-
Image
30-39 (feels like) deg C Ride: 19km "After breakfast, transfer out of the bustling city Ho Chi Minh to Tan Phu Trung village; ride through rubber plantation to Cuchi tunnels site and visit the most famous tunnels in the world, dug by Vietnamese during American war. Overnight in Saigon. Cycle: 25km." We set off from the hotel at 8am, heading for the Cu Chi Tunnels. We stopped about an hour out of the city and the bikes were waiting for us opposite a Vietnamese roadside coffee shop. After getting re-acquainted with the bikes, we headed over to the cafe for a comfort stop and an iced coffee that was strong and delicious. We finally hopped on the bikes and rode away. About 10km up the road we stopped for a drinks and snack break; hardly earned it.  9km later we arrived at Cu Chi Tunnels, parked the bikes, had another cool drink then headed into the tunnel complex. First up was a 20min film about the Vietnam war and how the VC used their ingenuity to overcome the superior technolo...
Read more