Destination Ho Chi Minh

Well, Ho Chi Minh is the last major city in Vietnam that I am yet to visit, so it's appropriate that in my top-to-bottom exploration approach I end up here. Here's what greeted me as I stepped out of the airport onto the street and went for a walk around where I'm staying here in District 4.

The districts of Ho Chi Minh actually take a fair amount of insight to get used to. Apparently some districts have got a better nightlife, or are trendier with tourists, or are more local-centric, and others are just straight up dodgy. I settled on District 4 just because when I applied my normal approach to finding a hotel that I could stay at for a little bit, this one seemed to be the best balance of price and location. Anyway, I went for another walk around the city to see what I could find. And it's obviously extremely busy and much bigger than Hanoi.

Now in one of my last posts I said I was looking for a little bit more adventure. And the reason that I'm down here in Ho Chi Minh is yes, because I've not been here before and it's important to see the major cities in a country. But the main reason is because I'm rendezvousing with my new travel buddy for the next couple of weeks.

See, the major adventure attraction in Vietnam at the moment is something called the Ha Giang Loop, which is in northern Vietnam, north of Hanoi. However, when looking at the various YouTube adventures that people have posted about the Ha Giang Loop, it is apparently something that one can do or should do with one's dad. So here he is, I have imported him for this most auspicious motorbike adventure (yes, willingly). Here's some shots of him arriving and us immediately proceeding to the craft beer scene and then subsequently checking out the war museum.

The museum is actually incredible. There's a lot to see inside and it was quite busy so I didn't take too many photos. What's crazy is touring the Vietnam War Museum with someone who was literally alive all through the Vietnam War. We remarked a few times that if Dad had tried to come to Vietnam around my age, he literally could not because it was a war zone. Well, I mean he could have come as a soldier, but wouldn't have been much fun, judging by what we saw in the war museum.

Anyway, we continued to walk around the different districts, eventually finding ourselves up in District 7 and scoring this Vietnamese lunch before packing it in for the day.

First on the agenda is getting some motorbike riding practice in advance of our trip back up north to the Ha Giang loop. Stay tuned to see how we go.