Tuesday 7th January

Let’s just start by saying that I loved HCMC, for all the reasons previously mentioned BUT the thing I forgot to mention is there weren’t any mosquitoes! Anyway, on Tuesday morning we catch a Grab from our hotel to a bus station (although you’d never have guessed it was a bus station, it just looked like a regular old, dusty shop). We had twenty minutes to wait so we go a few doors down to find a cafe and loo so that J can get his proper Vietnam coffee fix and I can use the loo. It was full of sex workers all getting ready for the day ahead, they all looked amazing (in a slightly tarty way as you’d expect) but it was the most crummy cafe and the loo was fairly disgusting. I shuffled out looking decidedly scruffy by comparison and after the toilet experience felt like I needed a complete hose down not a 2 hour bus ride! Back to the bus and only one other couple of tourists, a Dutch couple travelling with us plus countless other locals and cargo. We get to Ben Tru after a few hours following a number of drop offs along the way. We then hop in another mini bus, he drives like a manic around Ben Tru dropping off a few others before depositing us at our home stay (Nha Mo / New House homestay), it’s £15 per night so I’m not expecting much. We meet Tuk the owner, about half an hour after arriving she calls by as she doesn’t live here. It’s quirky but nice and in a quiet area. There are a total of six rooms en-suite with a shared living area, kitchen, lounge. We dump bags and grab the bikes out front and cycle into Ben Tru (about 7km away) so we can get the feel of the place. The cycle back is fairly horrific as it’s rush hour by then with scooters, cars, lorries everywhere… I loose my sh@t a few times on the roundabouts and decide to get off and cross when I can… my only advice is look at the traffic oncoming, wave at it and by some miracle hope that they slow down and avoid you but you really are playing chicken with your life! A little later we head back into Ben Tru, we catch a grab to a highly recommended seafood restaurant but soon discover that no one speaks English and the menus aren’t translated either, we have a go at using Google translate but it’s really not helping (actually it’s making me queasy) we get up and head off to another restaurant (CocoMint) that was on our recommended list. It’s ok and we manage to get a salad and pizza just for a change, another Grab back to the homestay. We have booked a private guide for a trip on the Mekong tomorrow…