Tuesday 20 October Goodbye Saigon

Late start this morning for breakfast and then bags out, to then go to first floor to check in for our Mekong River cruise. On the coach about 11.30 for our 2 hour drive to the Port for our Mekong River cruise aboard RV Amalotus.

As soon as we are welcomed onboard we are directed to the dining room. Lunch was nice with free flowing drinks!

We were then to go to our cabins but Nguyen told us to wait as we were upgraded from 107 to 218. We had to wait for the beds to be separated but it is a nice gesture albeit the exact same size and layout of our booked cabin, just one level up and more towards the pointy end.

Leaving port, it is a busy waterway with all manner of craft. Time for life vest drill on the top deck.

Have had a good look around the boat. It isn't super flash but very comfortable and staff very friendly and attentive. Read for a while and soon enough it was time to go to the lounge area for the Captain's cocktails reception and meet some of the crew.

We then headed to dinner which was very nice too.

After dinner there were local Vietnamese musicians who came onboard to entertain us. Not my idea of music though. More like screeching cats so I only lasted about half an hour and head back to the room.

Therese (who teaches line dancing) was already feeling a bit motion sick so out came my pink Disney Princess medical kit to share the Phenergan which I hope helps her out. I know what it is like to be sea sick and so far this little blue pill has worked for me. Mind you, the river is very smooth so far so I'm optimistic it will stay that way. Time to catch up the blog and read for s bit before lights out.

Monday 19 October Saigon

Early morning start as we were on the coaches by 7.15 for our 2 hour drive to the Cu Chi tunnels. The American war (as the locals refer to it) is simply part of the country's history where they have never not been invaded by another country for more than a 50 year period at any one time! The Yanks continue to have a lot to answer for, in my humble opinion.

Our guide, Josie who is 28 years old, was asked whether she hated Americans. She gave a very sensible answer, saying that she doesn't hate Americans just the people who gave the orders.

The Cu Chi tunnels were built by Vietnamese resistance fighters. Part of a larger network of some 250 kms of tunnels, the Ben Dinh tunnels were used by the Viet Cong guerillas as hiding spots during combat.

Its location at the Saigon River enabled local forces to manoeuvre toward the river and withdraw safely during enemy sweep operations. For this reason the Cu Chi District Party Committee chose Ben Dinh as its principal base to lead and direct soldier's and people of Cu Chi during the intense conflict with the US forces from 1968 to 1975.

A US Army M41 tank that struck a guerilla laid mine in 1970 still lies in the middle of the forest. The ingenuity and resilience of the VC was amazing!

As much as I enjoyed the history lesson which I found so interesting, it was very humid wandering around so can only imagine how unbearable at times it would have been for both the locals and our soldiers. Josie gave us so much insight into the day to day life for both the local villagers and the VC. I know the story, that the US started the war to help stop the spread of Communism, but really? And I probably need to be reminded of what possible good reason we had in conscripting so many of our lovely young men to join the war... But time to get back to the coach and spend the next 2 plus hours in horrific traffic to get back to our hotel.

Almost back, and the wind picked up and the rains fell but only for about 15 minutes. We got back to the hotel and decided on lunch there. My beef satay was anything near delicious. Their idea of satay and mine bear no resemblance. What didn't help was J choosing to sit with anew to the groupcoyple from Perth. More wombles! So, up to our room for a cuppa and then headed up the street for a leisurely wander. Bought some crackers and nuts for our dinner as we both agreed we didn't want an actual meal.

We then are back in our room when we get a knock at the door. It is one of the hotel managers who wants to give us a special gift as we are so special and no one else is getting one! What the? Is this some effort to apologise for not giving us a river view room? I had been on the hotel's website checking on room availability and costs, to work out that our room was about $55 AU per night cheaper than a river view room and lo and behold there was one twin bed room available in the hotel...

We then head to the hotel bar where we had lunch sit is happy hour. We both ask for a flag of pilot origin, only to be told that they have run out, so we all of e can taste the rosé as we both only like dry wine. To cur a very long story short we are offered the first rosé complimentary as they didn't have what we wanted. We then ask for a second glass at 7pm which is happy hour cut off. Enjoying ourselves, and almost an hour later, we ask for a third glass. When we then ask for the bill we are told that we have had 4 glasses each but are only being charged for 3! What the? What is it with this hotel and effing shabby service. Are the bar wait staff running a scam on us or what? Anyway we are insistent that we have only had 3 drinks each so eventually end up paying for one happy hour half price glass and one full price glass each. It is probably just as well that we are leaving tomorrow or I'd really lose the plot with this hotel. We head to the 9th floor as we want to take some night photos of the river from the pool area, but that is closed so we have to go into the gym and take our photos through the windows. It really is very pretty.

Back to the room, a bit of reading and then lights out, if we can again work out where the switches are.