Day Six: Vinh Long to HCMC

We walked from our hotel to the bus station and reached there at about 7.30am. We waited a while then an uncle motioned us to a minibus. Wow. This is the newest one we've saw so far. Spacious and clean. Smells new too! The bus took us to another street and the driver motioned us to get down and take a seat. This place seems to be the central office of this bus company. They seems to be running a courier service or some sort. Throughout the 20 mins, we watched many, MANY motorbikes coming in and out to drop or pick up parcels.

Finally, our minibus came back with more passengers (fr other parts of Vinh Long town maybe) and we are off to HCMC. We passed by the cabled My Thuan Bridge. Think its the nicest looking around bridge already.. but I couldn't get a photo of it.

If i ever visit Vinh Long again, I'll not get a tour. Its possible to just go to An Binh Island and find a homestay and rent a bike and explore the island by yourself! M felt that we had cycled too fast round the neighbourhood that we missed out things.. ya. i agreed. The locals are very simple (on An Binh island).. when we stopped to take pictures, some of them came out of their houses, looking at us curiously. hahaha.

The bus ride is uneventful.. maybe cos we are both tired.. I didn't take much note of the journey too. Anyway, you know when you reached hcmc, the traffic is more heavy :( more buildings, around less trees.. everyone seems crowded. We reached our stop ie. the bus company office in district 5 of hcmc. Once you get down, a swarm of motorbikes drivers surrounded you again. M and i quickly get our bags and head off first. We walked a little then decided to find lunch, to settle down, to plan our route (how to walk to district 1).

We started walking to Pham Ngu Lao Street. Frankly, I'm becoming more sian. Its very city and I don't feel enthusiatic anymore. We reached District 1.. It's very evident with lots of tourists walking around. Lots of locals trying to get you a room also. We went to view one which looks quite dodgy..although its cheap, we decided to try our luck at other places.

Oh, Hong Hoa Guesthouse seems very nice, from the lobby and the convenience of having free internet and a minimart just at ground level! A pity they are full for the next 2 nights. Finally we settled down in Quyen Thanh Hotel. Downstairs, its a shop selling lacquerware. We got a fairly big room for usd $20 a night. The decor is kind of 'obiang'. Bathroom has those olden green & red tiles. Anyway, I didn't took any photos of this room.

Quyen Thah Hotel

212 De Tham St. District 1. Ho Chi Minh City.

We went to Ben Thanh Market to do some touristy shopping.. you know, had to buy some souvenirs back... I don't like the market.. I don't like bargaining too. After buying the 'necessary' stuff, we head off.

Things are generally 2 to 3 times more expensive here, compared to the delta. We tried the coffee, the food, the flavour is just not there. Disillusioned, I decided to better spend our money on not-so local food. We set off to find a nice french restuarant near Thai Van Ling Road, according to lonely planet. We passed by the City Hall, went to the ferry terminal, experienced great traffic jam and crossed the heaviest traffic of my entire trip! Night falls and worn-out, we finally decided to trot into Bibi for authentic french food. The boss is a french guy who married a Vietnamese wife and proceeded to settle down here. We are very hungry. We had onion soup, steak, salmon, Foie gras, creme bulee, 4 glass of wine! The total bill came up to be usd $87. I wasn't too happy with my Foie gras, but i love the soup and creme bulee and of course, the wine is GOOD!

Ho Kd Bibi

17A6 Le Thanh Ton. District 1. HCMC.

Interesting thing to note: the whole Thai Van Ling road seems to be littered with Korean restuarants. There are several service apartments in this area too. Once you right turned to Le Thanh Ton road, the scene changes to Japanese restuarants! Anyway, these are simply food streets.. with restuarants, pubs etc. Dong Khoi Street is one that is full of boutiques and art studios. You'll find your LV, Gucci, etc here.

We made our way back to the Pham Ngu Lao to retire for the night...

Day Two: Chau Doc

We slept our fill this morning. The sun rays poured in from the balcony...

Looking out from the balcony, the opposite market is busting with activities.. you can hear frequent horning of the motorbikes, bicycles, etc. I'm glad we started crossing Vietnam roads from the Mekong Delta area, its not as hectic as HCMC! Anyway, after 8 days of experience of crossing roads in Vietnam, I dare say its not as daunting!

M and I explored the local market and hunt for our breakfast. We took our time to walk through the different lanes, occasionally taking pictures, buying stuff. The locals like to smile a lot. Sometimes i just need to point to my cam and smile brightly at them and they'll just nod their head and smile back.

I don't know what to call my breakfast. Its a different kind of texture of rice vermicelli with super-sumptous barbecued pork and their sauce! I love it! Then spring roll made with their rice paper...not sure what's the filling inside, but its delicious too! aww.. I'm missing the food there now :( $40,000 dong easily feeds both of us.. thats like around usd $2.40 only.


We went on to explore the various streets from our hotel and try to walk to the main bus station in Chau Doc. On the way, we took pictures as usual, tried the local snacks/ drinks if they look interesting enough =p This is my kind of holiday! We even went in a cafe/pub for coconut drinks. The place is busting with Vietnamese pop songs, complete with their MV. Interesting...

This is a kind of sweet and sour fish soup, called canh chua. The fish meat is very fresh and the whole pot is full of different kinds of vegetables. Refreshing and unique. They served us in a hotpot, quite big for the two of us.
Anyway, we finally reached the bus station. It's not really a long way. The bus station is about 2-3 km from the town center. We just follow Le Loi road (towards river side) and walk along. Along the way, we passed by many shophouses, a church, and of course the most expensive hotel in Chau Doc: Victoria Chau Doc. We went in to take a peep too :p

We wanted to look for a branch of Mai Linh Bus company because its one of the company with express buses. However, they only have buses running from Chau Doc to Can Tho or to HCMC, with hourly departures. Thus we bought our bus tickets to Vinh Long town (in Vinh Long province) from some other local bus company for $100,000 dong per pax. There's only one bus a day to Vinh Long and it runs at 6am! hahaha. I'll tell you more about my bus ride on another post :p