The city of resistance, defeating the enemies till they were Sai’gone.
Captains Log Day 6 – 20/03/17 9:45 am. Cambodia Air K6 809.
WARNING – This entry contains Food Posts.
Several Hanoi’ng delays later, the Captain and Admiral landed in the city of Ho Chi Minh, instantly throwing off their jackets and attempting to acclimatise to the raging heat, unlike the rainy and cold North, the South side of the country was sweltering. The bustling airport flooded with people and like the weather, it was a contrast to Hanoi. Hailing a cab, we rushed to the airport to check in and commence exploring, we had to make up for lost flight time.
It was not long till the Captain and his sidekick were on the streets, the morning rush had them tinkering for some quick eats (Warned you) – we headed to a renowned eatery in the district called Propaganda. Hipster alert. This place was hip. It was a nice Vietnamese cafe, it looked like it had fallen out the Melbourne hipster manual and had been teleported from Brunswick. Over ordering as usual, we gulped down on some absolutely delicious food – the Admiral had finally gotten Pho in Vietnam and was in a very happy place, likewise the Captain was Banh’ing hard. Once the feast was over the Captain warned the Admiral that the place next on the agenda was not for the faint hearted, with a worried look on her face she accompanied the Captain to the War remnants’ museum.
Much like the previous visit of the Captain, the eeriness and sadness was evident in everything held in the premises. After doing the tourist thing and posing with the tanks and planes, it was time to be educated on the horrors that took place in the region.
What followed was history lesson 101 and a devastating realisation of all the terrible things that mankind is possible of inflicting on others. There were points in this visit where both the Captain and Admiral teared up, overwhelmed with sadness and disgust. Words cannot describe this place and the stories that lay within. Would recommend anyone that visits the city to go here and read, learn and share stories with friends.
Walking out of the museum we held a strong sense of respect for the people that were involved in such hard times. With doom and gloom on our minds and some heavy discussion topics we decided to walk straight to Ben Thanh Market to get our minds off things. We stopped at a Hindu temple and said a small prayer for what we had seen, we prayed for the families and thanked god for our blessings.
Still freaked out the Admiral was on a google spree to ensure that we were not poisoned by Agent Orange. We reached the market and to our disappointment, the market was overpriced – after visiting the Hanoi markets, the Captain was put off and the amount of bargaining he would need to do to get even the smallest thing – not worth the trouble. The Admiral and Captain left the market abruptly and headed home for a swim in the Jacuzzi Pool. WTF is a Jacuzzi pool you ask? (I had NFI what it was) – it is a Spa with a small swimming area that has water which pushes you back as you swim towards it. Reminded the Captain of a carrot on a string in front of the horse.
After finishing up a never-ending swim and doing a TON of laundry, the mission was to find out where the cloths can hang to dry, the Captain felt like a Megastructures engineer attempting to come up with locations. As our room felt like a humidifier due to the wet cloths, we got dressed and headed to our first fancy dinner for the trip Eon51 restaurant.
Located on the 51st floor of the Bitexco Financial Tower, this fine dining restaurant came with a side of breath-taking views of HCMC. The Admirals treat for the Captain’s aging 30th birthday. Although there was a slight disagreement with the waiter about customising the set menu/ adding alcohol to a mocktail, the dinner was just amazing – the photos of the meals or the view don’t do any justice.
Rolling out of the restaurant, we felt that the lift would break due to over inflated bellies. As a last bit effort to find some affordable shopping we found Hanh Thong Tay Market, which was located 40 minutes away from the dinner current location. Ordering an uber we tracked it as it broke at least four road rules to reach us. Once in, it was a race against time, pushing hard to reach the market before it shut shop, arriving just in time to see the shutters close. The inner drive got the better of us and we decided to explore. Being the only foreigners, this seemed to be a local market, as we walked around, the vibe started changing “from ‘buy everything’ to a ‘stab and rob’ vibe hoping not to die we quickly hailed a cab and headed back to safety.
The second day started with the Admiral and Captain stuffing their faces with some breakfast, followed by packing some lunch for our day ahead. They headed downstairs where the Cu Chi Tunnels Tour Bus was waiting, we were the last pickup and the bus was waiting for 15 minutes (opps). Off we went to explore the elaborate 250 KM of tunnels in which the resistance forces fought the corrupt and evil government. We shared the bus with some very interesting people, two couples from Australia, a couple Spain and a very disgruntled American ex-tennis player named Bob.
The tour was crazy, since the captains last venture to HCMC 5 years ago, the crowds had increased at least 10-fold. the crowds combined with the heat resulted in a very unbearable tour of the tunnels, nonetheless the Admiral was resilient as she ventured into the 80cm by 100 cm wide tunnel network, going through like a mole, she completed the course. The tunnels complete it was the Captains favorite part – the Shooting. Although none of the tour participants except the Captain and Admiral opted to go to the range, the Captain was keen, picking his weapon of choice the AK47 they headed to the Very loud shooting range. Concerned and worried the Admiral selected the M60 machine gun. BANG BANG – some rounds were shot. A frazzled and concerned Admiral appeared, disgusted at how easy it is to inflict evil with such weapons. Finishing up a the tunnels the bus was loaded, everyone except Bob passed out as we headed to the Mekong delta two hours away for the second part of the tour.
The Captain had reached new waters – the Mekong Delta. The second longest river in the world, bordered by rice fields that produce 7 million tons of rice a year. The Captain in his element jumped on a boat led by the pirate tour guide, on the Boat the squad of tourists and Bob crossed the Mekong and landed at Unicorn Island. On the Island a few things happened including, Drinking Bee honey tea, made from Queen bee honey and Bee Pollen, holding the bees that made the honey, manhandling a random Python, Python almost strangling the Captain as other noob tourists had pissed it off, eating some random local fruits, drinking Pandan tea, Local fisherman girl singing ‘if your happy and you know it’, a golf cart ride in which the Captain tried to bargain to drive the golf cart, visiting a coconut candy factory and finally a bamboo boat ride down a small river canal with Bob. With that the tour ended and we boarded our three hour bus ride back to the hotel. The bus ride was spent interrogating Bob, genuinely another Pirate, unfortunately not much was found out, except that he travels the world, doesn’t work, was born in Congo and grew up in Egypt, he almost got gored by bulls in Spain and that Pat Cash got Gift Cards when he won Wimbledon – the Admiral was passed out so she missed out on the interesting story time
After getting home and getting changed, the Captain and Admiral headed to our second exciting dinner for the trip – this was going to be at Noir – Dining in the Dark.
This my friends was an experience never to forget – Arriving at the restaurant, we were greeted by friendly staff and offered a page in which the menu was described. The menu had details about the flavours but not what we were going to eat. Soon after selecting which set menu we would like (veg – western) as well as what we would like to drink, a deaf and mute waiter came over and handed us a puzzle and a blind fold. This was a test to what was to come. Both the admiral and captain struggled as they tried to complete the puzzle with the blindfold. Shortly after we were briefed about how the room will be (Pitch Dark) and what to do if you feel overwhelmed i.e close your eyes etc. Then a blind waitress came and introduced herself. She was to be our waiter for the night and she was totally blind. We were escorted up the stairs hand on shoulder into a pitch-black room, the blind waitress explained where everything on the table was and left. At first the Captain was overwhelmed and thought he was seeing things, but after a while things got better and he was able to start exploring with his hands, the cutlery, the glasses. The meals started coming out – four dishes at a time, the Admiral and Captain spent time describing what they tasted and the flavours. Often the Admiral had her spoon upside down and the Captain ended up with food on his cloths, but the experience was AMAZING. The food had complex flavours that were really hard to guess, but kept us on our toes. Once the Meal ended, the beautiful waitress escorted us out, an hour and a half after being in pitch darkness, the light made us dizzy. Slowly we came back to reality as a waited came over and started explaining what we ate. Some of our guesses were a fair bit off, some very accurate, the food was delicious and the experience unforgettable. Finishing up we headed to the night market for some final shopping before retreating to our hotel for our final sleep in HCMC and getting ready for our TEMPLE RUN in Cambodia the next day.
