Getting There

The Rugby World Cup took up enough of my mind space prior to this trip to ensure there was little time for preparation or getting excited. The relief of the lads holding the trophy aloft after 24 years of waiting was quickly followed by apprehension and excitement for the few days prior to takeoff.

Most of the apprehension was that we had booked with Jetstar – the saving of near 50% on what we could get through travel agents was enough to take a bit of a risk on our choice of airline. The decision paid off as the plane left only 15 minutes late and aside from an error in judgement in not ordering any food for the 10 1/2 hour flight, it went by like any other flight – slowly and not without it’s screaming babies and lack of legroom.

We arrived in Singapore in plenty of time to make our connection to Ho Chi Minh City, arriving at 2100 local time – 0300 NZ time.

Ho Chi Minh City has a good taxi system where you can purchase a taxi chit for US$8 and get a cab to anywhere in the city. In the past when we’ve arrived in new countries, it is pretty much standard to enjoy your first ripoff experience getting carted from the airport to your hotel (or any hotel the driver feels may be better) and then arguing over the already inflated prices on arrival. At Ho Chi Minh City the ripoff is standardised, allowing all tourists to get ripped off equally, thus avoiding that uncomfortable breakfast table conversation with other backpackers the following morning whereby we generally find out we’ve been taken for at least 100% of the usual tourist price.

It took about 30 minutes to arrive at Empress Hotel, just a few blocks from the tourist and backpacker centre of the city and we were pleased to discover that our booking with Expedia was all under control and our room was ready.

We only spent 10 minutes or so getting ready to go out and although we were stuffed from the flight, we were hungry enough to walk half an hour or so to the Bến Thành Market for a feed.

We’d been warned about the roads in Ho Chi Minh City and had learned from several travel videos in my collection that crossing the road was an experience that was both scary and not to be missed.

The videos were spot on.

All 9 million inhabitants of Ho Chi Minh City had evidently decided to have a night out in town on their scooters, so Jo and I took our lives in our own hands and joined them. The key was to walk confidently and at the same pace across the road – pick a line and commit to it. The thousands of scooters, busses and cars swerved around us… we were pros.

Dinner was a bowl of Beef Pho (Noodle soup) for Jo and 4 prawn spring rolls for me, all washed down with a Saigon Red and two 333 beers. Total cost D140,000 – just under NZ$10.

We found our way back to the hotel at 2330 and slept pretty damn well after a long day.