A Large City and some Tunnels!

After planning several trips in the past which never happened, we finally got underway with our Vietnam trip!

However, as we were travelling with Xander and Eloise, 3 years and 7 months old at the time, there were some restrictions on what we could see and experience without tiring them out too much. Travelling in November also more or less cancels out travelling to any part of the centre of the country due to constant rain and floodings. So, because of this we decided to stay in the areas of Ho Chi Minh City and visit the Cu Chi tunnels, to visit Hanoi and also to finish Vietnam on a beach, Phu Quoc!

A great bonus with this trip was that we were going to meet up with Amaru’s parents, who were travelling over from the US to spend their holidays with us and also of course to spend some time with their grandkids, specially Eloise who they had never met before.

Our flight from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City was ok. Xander was very exited when he entered the airplane and jumped straight away into one of the Business seats. We had to unfortunately tell him that we were a bit further back on the plane…. Once he found his own seat however, he sat down straight away and started to put on his seat belt.

We had been provided with a bassinet in which we could place Eloise throughout the flight. Xander was able to stay entertained with the help of the tablet, colouring books and other toys. Unfortunately the plane was designed poorly so when the bassinet was installed, the TV screens were not able to be used… Who has time to watch TV anyway nowadays? Anyway, after 8 or so hours, we finally landed in Ho Chi Minh City…

As we had arranged for our Visa’s prior to arrival, immigration and customs was a breeze. Once we got on a taxi heading to our hotel, Xander discovered what it’s like to sit in a car without a car seat. And as he was quite tired, he sat very still and observed all the million of scooters that were EVERYWHERE!

We eventually arrived at out Hotel, the Somerset Ho Chi Minh City, where we had booked a 3-bedroom apartment for us all to stay in. Later on that night we were joined by the grandparents who the next morning were introduced to little Eloise.

We all made some plans on what we wanted to do during our Vietnam trip and decided to visit the War Remnants Museum that morning. This museum contains a range of different exhibits relating to the Vietnam War.

As some of these exhibits are quite confronting, we decided that Xander should stay outside… which he was fine with as there were lots of Tanks, Airplanes and Helicopters to keep him occupied while the rest of us took turns in seeing the museum. The museum was indeed quite confronting with some very gruesome photographs depicting victims of the war.

We stopped for a coffee nearby after we finished the museum which was great as I got to introduce my parents to some great Vietnamese Coffee. And they also got to experience a very typical South East Asian experience…. it doesn’t really matter where you are, a motorcycle will come through at any time 😉 We ended that day with my parents getting some suits and other clothing tailor made and ended the night by having a great meal.

The next morning we made our way to the Cu Chi tunnels. We had a private tour and the car ride out there took about 90min from our hotel. Getting to the tunnels was a nice change of pace from all the traffic and motorcycles. Xander was happy to walk along by himself. We were given a great tour by our tour guide of the tunnels and my mother and I both climbed down some of the tunnels which was cramped and very hot!

Towards the end of the tour we came across a firing range and although it’s a bit of a tourist trap as the prices are quite steep, both my dad and I decided to have a go… when will I have a chance to fire a machine gun again? Anyway, my dad selected the AK47 for himself and I decided to go big and selected an M60 Machine gun. Good fun all around!

The next morning we went to “Pho Binh” where we had a great Pho for breakfast and then got to see the second level of the restaurant where Viet Cong sat and had their secret meetings.

During the rest of our stay in Ho Chi Minh City we visited the Reunification Palace, the Emperor Jade Pagoda and the Saigon Skydeck, all of them very interesting to see in their own way.

We all enjoyed our stay in Ho Chi Minh City as it’s a great city and a great way to start our Vietnam trip! However it was now time for us to move on to our next destination, and we couldn’t wait to get to Hanoi!