Friday 4 May 2012

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight

Been another hectic couple of days as the tour draws to an end :-(

After flying from Denang to Ho Chi Minh city on Thursday we got a bus to our hotel which is just on the outskirts of district 1 of HCMC.

Before dinner we went to the War Remnants museum were we saw original army artillery such as guns and bullets as well as helicopters and fighting boats. Inside the museum were also a lot of photos taken during the Vietnam war when the Americans were here. As horrific as the photos were it certainly was an eye-opening experience to see things from the Vietnamese side. I must admit, I was very naive to the sheet scale of this war. Some of the facts I read had quite an impact.

We went out for dinner to a restaurant called " Temple Bar". Having been told this was a grill style restaurant I was getting pretty excited at the thought of having a full meal...little did I know the experience of this restaurant included grilling live shrimp at our table. It was a great restaurant and the atmosphere was fantastic as we were on the roof, but honestly- I didn't enjoy the grilling of live fish. I know it's the culture here, and I can accept that they don't have the same respect for animals that the west does, but nevertheless I couldn't watch the shrimp burn to death and then be eaten. But still, it was a great night with the whole group going out apart from Udo and Sue who wanted a well deserved quiet night in.

The next day, so this would be...Friday, we took a bus to the Mekong Delta area near the Cambodia border. On route however we stopped at some war tunnels used by the locals during the Vietnam War with the USA. Here we witnessed the harsh, cramped living conditions people faced underground when attacks were in full force. It was another eye-opening experience. After boarding a small boat in the Mekong Delta we went to a coconut island, then got a horse and cart to a bee farm and then got on some rowing boats and casually cruised along the Mekong Delta (see picture!). That was lush and so relaxing. We then went to our homestay where the rooms were very basic and miniature wildlife such as cockroaches and geckos were quite apparent. After sleeping the night I learned that both Stacey and Nicola had rats in their rooms! Glad I knew this AFTER I slept! However in the morning I was offered to hold a python, so of course to build up my manly points I did...see picture!!

So today is Saturday...our penultimate day and last night tonight. Currently we're driving back to HCMC where I plan to eat like a king at 1 of the 3 KFCs I have already seen for lunch! Then tonight we are all going out to party and drink and dance!!

The tour ends tomorrow and myself, Sarah, Nicola, Ellie and Maria are all leaving for the airport together around 3pm as our flights are all similar times in the evening.

The last week or do has been incredibly hectic, but my god have I enjoyed it. I do wish I could have written more detail in blogs and replied to everyone's messages a bit quicker but as I'm sure everyone understands- I'm living in the moment. And don't worry- I have about 1200 photos for you ALL to see!!

So I'm going to leave you now while I go get ready to get my drink on in HCMC!!

Will most likely blog tomorrow in an emotional rant about how I don't want to leave to come home etc etc so this isn't goodbye...yet!!

Ciao ciao!

Supertramp

No comments:

Post a Comment