Ho Chi Min City

I'm soooo glad that I've had the chance to revisit HCMC. When I first visited the city, it was during my first big adventure through S.E Asia, and I found the city so overwhelmingly crowded and busy. I couldn't wait to get out of the city after three days!

This time was different. I don't know if its because the traveling I've done since that first time in 2009 has helped me be more comfortable with bustling places, full of scooters and motorbikes, or if its because I wasn't with a group this time, and Anne and I could do what we wanted, when we felt like it... Whatever the reason, I'm glad because this time I was so much better able to appreciate the city.

We only stayed 2 nights, and by the second, both Anne and I were wishing we had a couple more. But, we made good use of our time here, and used our full day to see the War Remnants Museum, The Reunification Palace, the Cu Chu Tunnels, and eat all of the Subway!!! (For more details about these places, and, well, any of the places, visit Anne's blog- she actually posts as she goes so she remembers stuff)

Before we caught the bus to Phnom Penh, we went to the post office, which is in a huge, old building, and quite pretty from the outside. I finally mailed the lamp I'd bought in Hoi An (and been begrudgingly carting around since), along with a code of scarves I'd bought and some clothes I'd had made. I'm so glad to not have the extra bag to carry around anymore!

*A note on our hostel.... No toilet paper, a tour that the bus never showed up for cos it turned out the woman 'forgot' to book it, women sleeping in the reception area on fold out cots when we left in the mornings, and no staff even by 1pm to talk with. Not the best place we've stayed, that's for sure!