Day 4: Back to Ho Chi Minh!

I woke up at 6:00 am sharp this morning!  Haven’t done that in… well, I can’t remember the last time I was up that early!  I grabbed my laptop and headed out to the hammock to write yesterday’s blog entry. J  I was met by the daughter of the host family who offered to make me breakfast!  YUM!

Within about 10 minutes, I was feasting on delicious eggs, baguettes and bananas on the front porch of the house!

Check out this traditional Vietnamese drip coffee! Luckily, with a little milk and sugar it was just how I like it!

We hung out here until about 10am, and then our host took us by motorbike to her cousin’s home stay down the road. We were hoping to be right on the water, and as she said, it was “right on the water!” So, needless to say, we were really excited! But then we got there, and it wasn’t quite what we were thinking. Granted, the rooms were AWESOME, like tree house bedrooms…

but the rest of the place wasn’t somewhere where we wanted to spend the next day and night, especially when there are so many more awesome places to see in the country!  So, we waved goodbye to the Mekong Delta canals…

packed up and headed to the street, where we caught a motorbike taxi to take us to the Mien Thay bus stop!

 Good bye Mekong!

The bus ride was a mere 40 kilometers, but took over 2 hours, because they literally drove 10 miles an hour and picked up anyone standing on the side of the road!  This was NOT a tourist bus… we were definitely on the local bus!  We didn’t see any foreigners the whole trip!  We did however see some awesome old Vietnamese women!

As we were driving, I was noticing more and more restaurants with hammocks… Then, as I looked closer, more restaurants had hammocks with short tables next to them than actual tables and chairs! I LOVE IT!

This guy was carrying chickens in bags on his scooter!

After changing busses in Mien Tay and getting back to Cho Lon, we took a taxi over to Pham Gulau (sp?) where we found a cheap hostel near the park!   We were exhausted at this point!

After taking a little rest, we headed out to the famous Binh Thanh Market, which sold everything from custom made Vietnamese sandals, dried fruit, knock off purses/ wallets/ and jeans, perfume, makeup, custom tailored suits, scarves, jade, pearls, silver, Buddhist souvenirs and just about every travel souvenirs you could ever want…

Since you may be wondering... Mom, I KNOW you are.  I'll tell you what I bought!  3 pairs of super cute and comfy CalvinKlein boy short/undies: $2.00 ea, a bottle of Chloe perfume (2.5oz): $13.00, 2 handmade toys for my nephews: $1.00 ea, and a Vietnamese handmade bookmark for $1.00.  I wanted to buy more, but the market was closing, and we were rushing through to try to see it all!  Sorry mom, I tried to find you a dress or some jewelry, but to no avail!  Ill keep looking! :)  Aaron promises there will be plenty more places to find you something!

This lady was sitting outside the market!  Wanna know how much you weight?  Well, for a pretty penny, you can find out!  I’d personally rather not!

People aren’t the only ones around here who pile onto scooters!  Sometimes dogs go for rides too!

The streets in Ho Chi Minh are outrageous!  There are no traffic lights and drivers just somehow manage their way through oncoming and ‘sidecoming’ traffic!  I made that word up!  To add to the craziness, pedestrians cross the street too!  It’s amazing more accidents don’t happen!

I took this video with my iphone, just to prove it!

We left the market around dusk, in search of some delicious Vietnamese food!  Unfortunately, we were in a pretty touristy area, so we had to walk a ways, in search of the perfect authentic spot!

Check out this temple we spotted along the way!

We managed to find this dinner spot, which was just what we were looking for!

Delicious noodles and pork for a mere $1.50!

After dinner, we climbed up to the top of a building to a deserted floor near the top to snap some pictures of the roundabout in the middle of the area! I’ll load this picture later! It’s on Aaron’s camera… SORRY!

We found this cute little alley in the backpacking district to stop and have some drinks to top off the day!

1 margarita, 1 beer, and 1 coffee! Definitely a strange combo, but yummy none the less, and the atmosphere was perfect… romantic, quiet, and comfy!

My margarita came with a green cherry! I never knew those existed! Aaron said he could tie the stem with his tongue, so I made him prove it! VERY impressive, I might add!

One of my favorite things about Vietnam is the food, and the fact that it's almost always cooked in plain sight!  This particular restaurant's kitchen was actually on the opposite side of the alley, and completely open for all to see!  I love stuff like this!

Tomorrow, early morning, we're heading to Pan Thiet/ Mui Ne for some much needed relaxing beach time! 

Can't wait!