The tour of HCMC

Jahn & Dave Anthony are currently visiting HCMC and we have imposed ourselveson them as tour guides.  Hopefully it has all been ok but we have certainly had a great time ourselves.  We got to visit all our favourite places to eat and look at and it's really the 'Best of HCMC' Tour.
We started with the walking tour to the Opera House and Lam Son square and coffee at Givalry which has a view of the square.  If anyone has seen the quiet American, that's probably where he sat for his coffee each day. Got the best seat in the house which is in the window looking at the square.

       I need to get my own photo of the Opera House, this one from the internet, but you get the idea.

We then continued on to look at the Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral where we went to church on Sunday, in English which was good.

Then we went for a traditional Bun Cha lunch consisting of Lettuce and other raw green vegetables, cold vermicelli noodles and a soup that is sweet and spicy and yummy that has meat and some vegetables in it as well.  Cost per person around $1.50.
In the afternoon we went to the tailor to order a couple of dresses for Jahn and then met up with Phil on his way home from work.  We did the sunset drinks from the Saigon Saigon bar on tops of the Caravelle Hotel, a must, once again with views of Lam Son square and the city lights.

                                                    Happy Hour Caravelle Hotel

Dinner had to be at our favourite restaurant in an old French Villa with amazing Vietnamese food.  An excellent welcome to the country, France meets Vietnam.  Nha Hang Ngon...yummy!  We finished off the night with a foot massage.....as you do.

Day 2 was off to the Reunification Palace where North Vietnam stormed the gates with tanks at the end of the war between North and South.  This took us most of the morning to have a good look around.
                                 
                                  One of the tanks to the side of the Reunification Palace.
                                 
                                Dave having a look at one of the planes in the grounds of the palace.

I then dropped the tourists off at the War Remnants Museum to have a look around, quite a disturbing museum but important to look at the results of war and the view from the other side.

Phil met the guys at their hotel, since I was working until 8.30, and proceeded to the Sidewalk bar we often go to.  It's great for food, beer and entertainment with fire eaters, dancers, snake boy performances on the footpath as you eat and watch the world go by.

This photo is at the sidewalk bar, kids go around selling tissues or lollies but this little girl stopped to give Phil a shoulder massage, of course money changed hands...they are very good at their craft!

         One of the dishes we have had there before....food is pretty amazing and crazy cheap prices.
From here we took the tourists to the Chu Bar which has a Philipino band playing.  Always entertaining people watching here as well.  Fun night was had by all!

Jahn & Dave went off on the Chu Chi Tunnels tour the next day which is an excellent tour and a must while visiting.  We met them that night to take them to the Temple Club, pic below.  This is like a 1920's looking Chinese restaurant with excellent service and lovely food once again. Need to get some better photos of this restaurant soon.

                                
                             Jahn & Dave went off for massages and we headed on home.

Sunday morning was church and then we met up to have breakfast at Au Parc, a popular French style restaurant overlooking the Park, surprise, surprise by the name :) Wasn't over excited after all of the build up, it was our first time there, I have other places I think I prefer for breakfast. After breakfast we went for a walk around the city and had coffee at Trung Nguyen, they have the best coffee in HCMC.

We headed over to our apartment for the guys to have a look where we live and squeezed in a manicure and pedicure for Jahn and I while the boys sat at the sidewalk coffee shop and watched the world go by.

Dinner at Cuc Gach which we have all decided has the best food in HCMC.  Apparently Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie went there when they visited Vietnam, gather that's a pretty good endorsement?  The food was spectacular.  The decor is pretty amazing as well.  Below is the table we sat at last time we went there.  It's actually a table built into a 4 poster bed.  We ate in the attic but there are loads of nice places around the Vietnamese house it's set in.

So that is where we're up to.  Jahn and Dave have just been spending time in the Mekong Delta doing an overnight visit and come back tonight.  They are going to do the XO Foodie tour which is fantastic on Wednesday night, I know they'll enjoy that...looking around the city on the back of a motorbike and visiting 4 great restaurants.
SOOOO these are just some of the fun things YOU could do if you visit us in Vietnam.  Hopefully see you soon!

Artistic shots we couldn't help taking

Might I mention that most were done by Phil and we were in competition to get the best shots....which ones do you think are the best?  Might I mention we only have a point and shoot camera :(?

Down an Alley in Hoi An

                                              A lamp hanging high outside a shop in Hoi An.

                                                          Outside a house in Hoi An.

                                                  Quiet time at the art gallery, Hoi An.

                                                       Water urns at the Citadel, Hue.

Da Nang and Hue

We hired a car for the day yesterday to have a quick look at Da Nang and Hue since we were so close to them in Hoi An.  Also you fly into and leave from Da Nang airport for Hoi An so we had to head back that way anyway.  The trip from the airport costs around $25 so having a private car for the day at $80 including being dropped at the airport seemed like a good deal.
We drove to Marble Mountain in Da Nang first and climbed a million stairs...that what my legs thought anyway. Below the start of the stairs....

                                                            A temple at the Pagoda.

 The pagoda, some of the ones we see are quite new as of the course the country has been rebuilt in many areas.  Unsure how old this one was but it was impressive.

  From the Marble mountains you can see the coastline of Da Nang and onwards, it's wasn't a clear day so I'm sure it would usually be beautiful.  The famous China Beach where American soldiers spent R&R time during the war is the beach at Da Nang as well.

We went into Huyen Khong Cave which was like going down into an Egyptian cave, it was quite big and impressive.   The steps we climbed down into the cave with the guard statues being 2 administrative mandarins and 2 military ones, apparently.

                                                         Walking through the cave area.

We the travelled through Hai Van Pass which crosses over the mountain range to Hue.  This was a very important lookout that was used by originally French  then Vietnamese and American forces during the war time.

                                The bunkers have a views down the coast and along the roads.

Looking up at the old French fort we could see bullet holes from past skirmishes.

We then passed by Lang Co Beach, above, which is apparently a nice beachy area to stay if the weather is nice.

THEN TO HUE

 One of the gates of the Citadel which housed the emperor of Vietnam and his family and extras for hundreds of years.  It was very impressive how big it was, felt like I was in the forbidden city in China.

           Looking out from the main entrance area, you could see it all going on for ever in the distance.

                                                      One of the houses within the citadel.

                                                  A large gathering hall for men only?

Just one of the many gates.

The huge moat around the citadel.

 This building with the flag on it was just huge!  The flag looked like the size of the one on Parliament house in Canberra.

Another shot of the moat around the outside of the citadel, very nice to look at and well worth the day in the car to ensure we saw Hue.

                                                 

Around Hoi An

There is a beach close to Hoi An and we hired bicycles to have a look around.  It was nice to have the freedom of the bikes since we haven't had a car or any mode of transport that is our own for 4 months.

Phil with our bikes, yes it was cold!

  It was really windy as well, unfortunately this is the shot of the beach of Hoi An, was a dreary day.

 Love the petrol station, the pump is in front of the power pole, just a tiny bottle and a pump.

                                                   A fishing boat area we rode past.

                      I gathered they either hired these carts of made them there, interesting photo that's all.

 This is where we had lunch looking over the river, the boat above floated past us as well.  The restaurant is the Slow Food Restaurant, we felt very relaxed and the food was really nice, clay pot style slow cooked dishes.

Watched this lady every day across the road from our hotel, back breaking work picking food from the wetlands and I know she wasn't young.

                                                       Buffalo in the rice paddies.

 Went past lots of rice paddies, nice to see as this is what I expected Vietnam to look like.

Just throwing this one in....?  Unsure if you need to watch out for Elvis and Priscilla running across the road?  It is close to but not next to a pedestrian crossing.

Bringing in the New Year in Hoi An

So we decided to go to Hoi An for 4 days from the 28th returning on the 1st.  Phil only had to take 1 day off on the Monday which was great.  I have time off already at that time so it seemed crazy not to take advantage.

Hoi An is a Medieval looking town that was once Vietnam's most cosmopolitan port.  The town has lots of beautiful restaurants  coffee shops and shops to look at.  They also have around 500 tailors so it is easy to get things made there, had to get a dress made of course.  It actually reminds me of Venice or Florence in a way.

                                                     One of the streets of the old city.

                                                  One of the restaurants overlooking the river.

                                 Looking from the other side of the river over to the old town area.

                                    
The 2 of us...freezing for a refreshing change..... in front of some of the many silk lanterns Hoi An is famous for.  We saw lots of people making them, they make them by hand, stretching the fabric over the frames.  This was also the night of our 28th wedding anniversary....where did THAT time go?

             The market on the edge of the river, of course there was also lots of seafood for sale.  You can see the people on their motor bikes doing their drive through sales...a common way to purchase things.

 The wooden boats can be hired by the hour to float along the river, a bit like the gondolas in Venice.  On New Years Eve there were a number of people out on these boats counting down the clock.  You could buy candles in paper cups that you also put into the water with a wish for the future. With the candles floating, all of the lanterns and the style of the buildings it is magical at night.

 One of the tailors shops that make the Ou Dai, the traditional Vietnamese dress.  You will note the old treadle singer sewing machine in the middle of the picture, yes there are lots of these in use there.

 We visited a number of the old houses in the old city, most are hundreds of years old.  Beside Phil in a Chinese style house are the markings of floods they have had here, the top one was 1964, then 2007, 2009, 1999 in that order.  That is a LOT of water.  There are Japanese and Chinese influences around the city as both had been trading here for centuries.

                                  
             The Japanese bridge, which reminds me of an asian version of the Ponte Vecchio in Italy.  It was originally built in the 1590's to link the Japanese and Chinese quarters together across the stream.

                                      Phil particularly liked the sign in the front of this cafe.
                                                           Vietnamese Specials
                                                              Pizza and Pasta ???????

You'll also note the SCOUT sign above the Hai Cafe sign, guess it used to be a scout hall in the past too...unsure how long ago.

                                  
We stood in the middle of this bridge at New years to bring in 2013, there were lots of people around and it was a beautiful place to be looking at all the silk lanterns and buildings lit up on both sides of the river.