Vietnam – Day 1 and 2 – Ho Chi Minh & the Mekong Delta

Day 1: So I left for Vietnam early on Thursday Jan 21st, 2010. We arrived at the Vietnam Airport in Ho Chi Minh (Siagon) and went to the ATM first. Problem was – the numbers were coming up in MILLIONS of Dong (the Vietnamese currency). What is the exchange rate? Well $1 CAN = 18,000 D. This just made it REALLY hard for conversion. So I took out 2,500,000 Dong.

At the ATM we met some friendfolk – Tim (england) and Asha (Poland) so we shared a taxi together to the backpackers district since, as backpackers, thats where we want to be~!~ Booked a hotel for 1 night, cost us 150,000 Dong each, or $8 CAN for a night. Vietnam is Pricey in comparison to Thailand!So Marco and I are two strangers in Vietnam, so we go a wanderin’. Nice area not too much to do, we tried to get a tour somewhere but since it was 1PM by this time, we’d have to rent a local car to take us there instead of a day tour which would of cost us $30 a person. That is not budget friendly so we booked a tour for the following day for $6 for the same trip leaving at 8AM. It pays to work.

There is this, as Marco says- ‘orgasmic’, local sandwich which is pronounced “Bang Me”. I do not know the proper Vietnamese spelling but it doesn’t matter anyways. After drinking we wandered down the street yelling “Bang Me, Bang Me” in search of the food, A local man called “Bang Me” back. We follow.