Vietnam The Learning

Ok so crossing the road in Saigon (Ho Chi Min City, whatever you prefer to call it) is an issue. There are Tourist Police that are there to help you, which we were lucky enough to find on the first day as we were overwhelmed when we came to a road that was ,insanely busy. There are not many crossings & if you happen to find a Zebra Crossing, don't be fooled into believing this is a safe place to cross because believe me IT IS NOT..!!

The trick to crossing the road is this...... Just step out off the curb & keep walking, believe it or not the traffic will just go around you, it's that simple! (absolutely terrifying the first time). If you have any doubts & cannot find the Tourist Police, (they are dressed in green but he way) just find a 'local' & cross with them! We are pro's at it now & believe that crossing the road in Saigon is uniquely & totally safe once you have learnt how!

Mad traffic...!!!

Food is cheap if you choose not to eat in the hotels & eat where the locals do. I could feed my family of four (or three & a half..!) for $11 Australian dollars, drinks included! You can buy a can of beer at the corner store for less than one Aussie dollar - how good is that?!!

Just about all Vietnamese know english, they learn it at school, but they can read & write it better than they can speak it, and will hand you a pen & paper if the language barrier gets difficult!

Two things you should know about our language differences. Firstly 'Yum' in Vietnamese means I want to 'take you to bed' RIGHT NOW (if you get my drift) When we visited a sweet factory I had the packing ladies giggling as we tasted the sweets & I showed my appreciation "Hmmm Yummm" we were all amused by my faux pas...!!!

Secondly please don't cross your fingers in public. It may mean good luck to us, but in Vietnam it means 'Lady Bits down below'...!!!

Yet another photo for our little Celebrity 

The Vietnamese don't like their skin to be dark, they cover themselves from head to toe as fair or white skin is attractive to them. Unlike us who will risk our health &  wrinkles for the sake of a tan, oh how I wish we thought fair skin was attractive!

Celebrity Charlie even made it into a wedding photo!

 As mentioned we took Little Miss Charlie only two & a half with us. Now this is a 'need to know'  if you are traveling with your white european young-in's...... Vietnamese LOVE children, particularly fair skinned children.  Charlie got almost celebrity status the moment she stepped off the plane.! It was very hard to shop with her around. We got stopped constantly, they just wanted to touch her, smell her, kiss her & photograph her, which all seems a bit weird now I'm writing about it, but it was perfectly acceptable at the time & Charlie was totally safe.  In fact if you are thinking of traveling to Vietnam with small children I would suggest that you use a harness to keep them close to you (we never use one at home),  otherwise our experience was one of total safety. Charlie even received the odd gift from admirers! 

In Vietnam we found the people sooooo friendly. they truly are beyond beautiful......

Vietnam The Getting there.....

Pond & Garden inside Singapore

Playground is always a good option

Wanting for my Mums passing to be marked with something special, the girls & I decided to book ourselves a holiday in Vietnam......

I decided to be prepared as I was taking my first-time traveler daughters & my 2year old granddaughter, I didn't want to leave too much to chance so I organised as much as I possibly could before leaving, including travel visas which are required for Vietnam,  all accommodation, some tours & all transfers. I opted to fly at night so that Granddaughter Charlie Rose would hopefully sleep through the journey. 

After 7 hours in the air we changed planes for our connecting flight at the Singapore airport. For  those of you who have never been there Singapore airport is huge! You have to get an air train to get you from one terminal to another, however it is easy to navigate around. 

I had to laugh because when we landed & told Charlie we were in Singapore, she starting singing in the terminal...... "Singing Paw, Singing Paw...!!!" 

Stop over in 'Singing Paw' really not a problem!

It's just under a two hour flight from Singapore to Ho Chi Min. (or Saigon as he locals seem to prefer to call it)  

Getting through Saigon airport is easy, you don't even have to fill out an arrival card!  As expected Buffalo Tours were waiting for us to take us to our hotel. We have used Buffalo Tours once before & cannot fault them. 

We were lucky with the weather as they had a typhoon just finish the day before our arrival. 

Time to get settled & let the exploring begin...... Translated - lets go find shoes & handbags......!!!