Day 7 We fly to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City
The alarm went off at 5am which was fortunate as the wake up call didn’t come until 5.30am. As people who know me already know i spend the first half hour trying to come to terms with wakefulness so i would have been late down for breakfast which started at 6.45. Needless to say it was 6 when i got down after leaving my case outside my room as instructed. The imperial had fabulous rooms but the breakfasts, for me, were not as good. But, today there were lychees with the fresh fruit so there was a flutter of excitement from me. I cause trouble each morning asking for a pot of tea instead of letting them fill up my cup all the time but hey it’s 5* so nobody argues! Thought i was doing well getting to the bus by 6.25 but when i handed in my room card they presented me with my pyjamas and alarm clock! Soo glad they go to check the rooms! It was pouring with rain for the hours’drive to the airport and i kept myself awake by counting the colours of the plastic coverall coats they wear here on their scooters/mopeds – the passenger is covered too but cannot see anything! The airport at Hue is an international airport but has no international flights! Until recently they had to drive cars out onto the runway to chase off the water buffalo. Cute eh? I treated myself to cup of Vuetnamese coffee – yes me drinking coffee – which i am getting very fond of. The flight was just over an hour to Saigon. We landed to bright sunshine and 30° at 9.30 in the morning. Not to let us catch breath we met our new guide Kqua not sure of spelling, and our first stop was the war remnants museum. I really know now why i protested about the Vietnam war. Some of the accounts and photographs were shocking and heartbreaking. We saw how the agent orange, used by the Americans to defoliate the forests – and i might add while their own men were there too, caused atrocious birth defects and it is still affecting children today. It took until 2001 for the Americans to acknowledge what they had done. One massacre was lead by who is now a senator in America – Bob Kerry. Unbelievable! One exhibition showed the work of war photographers from both sides and were very moving. Errol Flyn’s son was one such and he was killed. This all dampened our holuday spirit somewhat but we agreed it was a must to see. We moved on to see the spectacular post office with wooden telephone booths and beautiful benches and desks to address your parcel etc. I treated myself here to a jade bracelet and earrings for sale at the end of the post office on your way out. The Notre Dame Cathedral was across the road but we didn’t go in. By this time i couldn’t concentrate on a word K was saying and was relieved when he said ‘lunch’ and ‘beer garden’! I ordered a Tiger beer( being a tiger in chinese astronomy this seemed appropriate) and a chicken and salad sandwich. Lovely jubbly! At last we were taken to the Equadorial Hotel and given our rooms. I took my shoes off and laid on the bed for the next 3hours. I decided i should rouse myself so i went down to the spa and booked a foot xare treatment, then got some more Dongs from the atm. I then went swimming in the amazing pool here – 10 lengths better than nothing! Then my foot treatment – bliss! By this time realised i was not in a fit state to get ready to go out so i ordered myself , guess what? Yes spring rolls and french fries! The spring rolls had orange and chili dipping sauce! Amazing. A couple of lovely people from Aberdeen bought me some vodka and tonic last night so i am now enjoying one or two of them. It’s a 6.30am wake up call so gad better sign off! Night all. X
Tags: Travel
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