Ho Chi Minh City

From the moment we arrived we both felt a friendly vibe. This is a city with over 7 million people with plane loads of tourists arriving daily, their welcoming and want to help make your visit a great one. We were waiting at the airport for our hotel shuttle and a gentleman approached and said he knows what it feel like to be just waiting for a ride and could he call someone for us on his cell phone. Now we cannot imagine a stranger in either the Kelowna or Vancouver airport offering their services. The hotel had heard that we were flying in from Phuket not Phu quoc, so they were waiting for us with a welcome to Vietnam sign at the international arrivals instead of domestic. They apologized for the wait, loaded our bags and we were quickly on our way. Now did we luck out as we found this new hotel online. We arrived at the hotel with a doormen in full uniforms and felt special. The hotel is clean, new, and quite with nicely decorated rooms. The king size bed has nice cotton sheets, fluffy pillows, comforter, decorative throw pillows and a stylin bed runner. There's an oversized bathtub with lots of marble. Steve especially enjoyed a super foamy bubble bath. This is a three star hotel with 5 star service! We have in room internet with great reception and a big flat screen tv which allowed us the priviledge of watching some Olympic mania. We're so proud to be Canadian. Next it was off to the Thai embassy for a new tourist visa. The receptionist told us we needed flight tickets.Well talk about location, location, across the street was a travel agent waiting to book our flight. Later we went to the War Remnants Museum where it was humbling and moving. They displayed an unbiased account of the Vietnam War with all its attrocities and devastation. What a sensory overload for the eyes and mind! So much destruction that the Vietnamese people had to endure and here they are with open arms (for most) welcoming the world to visit their homeland. We were both speechless and heartbroken. A must see for all! So much to learn. We're truly enjoying the sights and sounds of Ho Chi Minh City. Been to a couple of fine French restaurants and even the cinema twice. Saw two Sheri movies, Toothfairy (lots of laughs-locals loved it) and Valentine's Day. Unfortunately Avatar was sold out.
Over the next few days we did the huge open markets , one being the Ben Than and another in China town.
You can find anything and everything. We hit the Saigon Race Club for horse racing one afternoon. The horses are from Australia and much smaller than the ones back home but the jockeys are the same size. They look about 10 years old although the age minimum is 14. It was a great to hang with the locals doing their thing on a sunday afternoon. Very few tourists here so we probably stood out in spite of trying to blend in. In the evenings everyone comes out to enjoy the city with their family, friends, or sweethearts. There are many parks, tree lined streets,water fountains, as well as places to worship in this vibrant happening city.
We're amazed at all the traffic and how we have not seen one accident. Thousands of mopeds going off in every direction through roundabouts with few street lights and no one gets hurt. There's plenty of horn talking without any road rage. Organized chaos!
Ho Chi Minh is a friendly, clean, and energetic city we wouldn't hesitate to visit again.