Thursday
Today is my last day and I don’t want to go home. I have really enjoyed my time here ..I love the hustle and bustle of the city life of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and the even quieter areas of Hue.
I have got the morning free to spend time looking around ho chi minh today and have the chance to get a few last gifts. This morning we got up a little later and headed into town.
We had a look around some of the shops and the colourful markets and I spent some of the dong I had left buying conical hats ! (I had fallen in love with them by the end of the holiday).
The weather wasn’t too great, so we cut our shopping trip short and headed back to the hotel to get our suitcases ready for the last time. Our guide was at reception at 12pm and took us to lunch at a local restaurant where the food was lovely. We sat looking over the street and on the opposite side there was a builiding site with a new office block under construction, I was amazed how laid back the workers appeared, the scaffolding was made of wood not metal like in the UK and it didn't look very safe!
After lunch we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, The post Office and the unification palace, the unification palace was very big and some of the rooms were very highly decorated. We also visited China town where we saw Thien Hau Pagoda, Ngoc Hoang Pogoda and finally the Binh Tay Market. This market was quite an experience !! the Vietnamese traders were very enthusiastic to get me to buy their goods, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards their stalls … all done with massive smiles and lots of noise..
After the market - with its unfamiliar smells - we were dropped of back in the center of ho chi minh were we relaxed in a local bar before dinner. The bar was wonderful after the hectic market with helpful bar staff who were very interested to know about England. They were trying very hard to perfect their english, particularly one girl, who was around 21 who stood with us the whole time,listening to every word and telling us that she was studying English language at University.
We got picked up from the bar at around 7pm for dinner in another local Vietnamese restaurant. More great food and made more special as this was my last meal in Vietnam - I was feeling sad at leaving this beautiful country and the company of the people who had shared t with me. After dinner it was off to the Airport for our flight home with Vietnam Airlines We departed 11pm direct to Paris. The night flight back was very quiet and most people fell asleep, but I took advantage of the onboard entertainment and watched some films that I hadn't seen on the way out. I really enjoyed the flight and the in-flight service on Vietnam airlines was perfect. In all, the trip had been amazing and a wonderful experience .. I will definitely be going back soon, you should too !
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