Before I start on today’s adventures, we’ll start with Sandra and Glenn’s tour from last night….

We had a group of 10 (6 from our group and 4 from another tour) for our street food experience which started in the old quarter at a family owned shop front. We started with Vietnamese tumeric pancakes then sampled rice paper spring rolls and cupcakes made of rice. 

Local pizza then dessert of coconut icecream all while walking through seafood markets and flower stalls. We were briefed on the local living quarters and shown the apartments that were given to the locals when their houses were destroyed during the war. We really enjoyed the night. 

Now to today. This morning we all met up for a final tour of Saigon. We started at the Independence Palace – no longer in use since the end of the war in 1975. The palace is still set up with the original furnishings with historical photos showing the rooms in use during the war to give context to the spaces.

Then it was to the Post Office, followed by a walk to the Town Hall and Opera House. Along the way we saw the CIA building famous for the evacuations as the war ended. While I’m determined not to whinge about the humidity while on this trip, the discomfort factor was the highest we have experienced so far 🙂 .

We then met up with more people joining on our tour and had a lovely lunch prior to departing Saigon.

Then, after a 2.5 hour bus ride out of the city and through the rice fields we have embarked on our 9 night Mekong River cruise. The boat is amazing, the staff are amazing, the food is amazing and the company is amazing. Bring on the next week and a half!