Onwards to Ho Chi Minh City! The city is actually still better known as Saigon. We had a 7am flight to catch so we left the hotel at 5am. We never had a chance to sleep in throughout our whole holiday I tell you! Anyway, once we reached Saigon, we were picked up by someone from the hotel. They spelt MH's name wrongly hahaha - it was kinda hilarious. We weren't laughing anymore after that because we were very disappointed by the hotel's customer service. They charged us a higher price than what was stated on their website! I don't care if it's only by USD1, it's very unethical of them to do so! Hmph. If you ever go to Saigon, don't stay at Phoenix 74 Hotel!!

We were pressed for time and quickly booked our bus tickets and accommodation for Mui Ne the next day. And we really really wanted to see the Cu Chi Tunnels but only morning tours are available! So in the end we booked a private car to get there. It was a few times more expensive but at least we were in the comfort of our own vehicle and didn't have to follow any tour groups. Had a quick lunch at the tour company, thanks to Thy who helped us order some local dishes to be delivered to us. Yum yum!

It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the Cu Chi Tunnels. And it was well worth the journey! It was really interesting to see how the tunnels are like (very small!!) and how the Vietnamese survived in the tunnels without getting caught. It's something you gotta see for yourself! After getting back to the city, we visited the other usual attractions but nothing much caught our eye. Saigon was very much just like a typical city. Oh but we discovered really delicious food! We usually judge the food by the amount of local people eating it and we went for it when we saw lots of people were eating by the streets. Needless to say we were definitely not disappointed but too bad I don't know what the food we ate was called! I'm so craving it right now. Sigh. And it was super cheap too! 10,000dong only, which is equivalent to almost SGD1.

The next morning, we were really happy to check out of the hotel and head on to Mui Ne. Mui Ne is famous for its white sand dunes, red sand dunes, kiteboarding and windsurfing. We got onto a 'sleeping' bus which was really cool! The chairs are actually more for sleeping and it looks like double decker bunk beds. We were in the bus for nearly 6 hours though. And then our screwed up bus driver refused to drop us off at the hotel even though they were supposed to and just dropped us off at their main office in Mui Ne instead and asked us to take a taxi. Grr. It was only 2km away so we chose to walk instead. During that short walk, we learnt that everyone at Mui Ne is really good at touting!! We stopped midway at a restaurant/bar called DJ Station for lunch and were extremely pleased with the service. The boss was really nice to us and even gave us free cocktails! Which cost more than what we ordered to eat.

After lunch and putting our bags in the hotel, we rented bicycles and made our way to the sand dunes. No one wanted to give us maps & kept offering us tours instead (see how they are out to get our money??) so we relied on our luck to get there. I have no idea how far we cycled but boy was I happy to see the red sand dunes! My legs were practically screaming for help when we were cycling uphill man. There were many cute kids there trying to rent us their sleds for sand surfing & they also brought us to teach us how to do it. Fun fun! It made the long journey worth it. Especially since people were telling us "Sand dunes very far! 35km! I rent you jeep! Cheap cheap! 20USD only!" Bluff us wan la. In the end the trip there only cost us 5 dollars at most for the rental of the bicycles!

Cycled the long way back and after taking a dip in the resort's swimming pool and washing up, we decided to go back to DJ Station for dinner. The boss came back to the restaurant when we were almost done eating and he gave us more free drinks! He gave us at least 2 free cocktails and a few rounds of shots? He was a really nice guy and kept coming back to talk to us. But after all those drinks that he gave us, I immediately conked out on the bed after waking back to the resort.

The next day we had a relaxing morning lazing around on the beach chairs and watching the waves crash onto the shore.. The whole afternoon was spent on the bus back to Saigon again. We didn't book a hotel for our last night in Vietnam so we randomly picked a hotel to stay in. Bad move because the next morning MH had some weird bites all over him & the itch was killing him. Lucky me was bite-free heheh. :X Anyway, the rest of our time in Vietnam was more relaxing.. On our last night we just treated ourselves to a scrumptious dinner and then headed back to rest. On our last day we went to the War Remnants Museum before packing up and heading to the airport. Seeing photographs from the war and the birth defects of people affected by Agent Orange during the war sent chills down our spine. We also saw a guillotine (the thing used to chop heads off) and how the Vietnamese were tortured. :/

It was sad that we were leaving Vietnam so quickly. 8 days is definitely too short a stay! There are still so many things to see, and I would love to taste more of their local food. Can't wait for our next trip, whenever and wherever that is, haha. Time to save up again!

Onwards to Ho Chi Minh City! The city is actually still better known as Saigon. We had a 7am flight to catch so we left the hotel at 5am. We never had a chance to sleep in throughout our whole holiday I tell you! Anyway, once we reached Saigon, we were picked up by someone from the hotel. They spelt MH's name wrongly hahaha - it was kinda hilarious. We weren't laughing anymore after that because we were very disappointed by the hotel's customer service. They charged us a higher price than what was stated on their website! I don't care if it's only by USD1, it's very unethical of them to do so! Hmph. If you ever go to Saigon, don't stay at Phoenix 74 Hotel!!

We were pressed for time and quickly booked our bus tickets and accommodation for Mui Ne the next day. And we really really wanted to see the Cu Chi Tunnels but only morning tours are available! So in the end we booked a private car to get there. It was a few times more expensive but at least we were in the comfort of our own vehicle and didn't have to follow any tour groups. Had a quick lunch at the tour company, thanks to Thy who helped us order some local dishes to be delivered to us. Yum yum!

It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the Cu Chi Tunnels. And it was well worth the journey! It was really interesting to see how the tunnels are like (very small!!) and how the Vietnamese survived in the tunnels without getting caught. It's something you gotta see for yourself! After getting back to the city, we visited the other usual attractions but nothing much caught our eye. Saigon was very much just like a typical city. Oh but we discovered really delicious food! We usually judge the food by the amount of local people eating it and we went for it when we saw lots of people were eating by the streets. Needless to say we were definitely not disappointed but too bad I don't know what the food we ate was called! I'm so craving it right now. Sigh. And it was super cheap too! 10,000dong only, which is equivalent to almost SGD1.

The next morning, we were really happy to check out of the hotel and head on to Mui Ne. Mui Ne is famous for its white sand dunes, red sand dunes, kiteboarding and windsurfing. We got onto a 'sleeping' bus which was really cool! The chairs are actually more for sleeping and it looks like double decker bunk beds. We were in the bus for nearly 6 hours though. And then our screwed up bus driver refused to drop us off at the hotel even though they were supposed to and just dropped us off at their main office in Mui Ne instead and asked us to take a taxi. Grr. It was only 2km away so we chose to walk instead. During that short walk, we learnt that everyone at Mui Ne is really good at touting!! We stopped midway at a restaurant/bar called DJ Station for lunch and were extremely pleased with the service. The boss was really nice to us and even gave us free cocktails! Which cost more than what we ordered to eat.

After lunch and putting our bags in the hotel, we rented bicycles and made our way to the sand dunes. No one wanted to give us maps & kept offering us tours instead (see how they are out to get our money??) so we relied on our luck to get there. I have no idea how far we cycled but boy was I happy to see the red sand dunes! My legs were practically screaming for help when we were cycling uphill man. There were many cute kids there trying to rent us their sleds for sand surfing & they also brought us to teach us how to do it. Fun fun! It made the long journey worth it. Especially since people were telling us "Sand dunes very far! 35km! I rent you jeep! Cheap cheap! 20USD only!" Bluff us wan la. In the end the trip there only cost us 5 dollars at most for the rental of the bicycles!

Cycled the long way back and after taking a dip in the resort's swimming pool and washing up, we decided to go back to DJ Station for dinner. The boss came back to the restaurant when we were almost done eating and he gave us more free drinks! He gave us at least 2 free cocktails and a few rounds of shots? He was a really nice guy and kept coming back to talk to us. But after all those drinks that he gave us, I immediately conked out on the bed after waking back to the resort.

The next day we had a relaxing morning lazing around on the beach chairs and watching the waves crash onto the shore.. The whole afternoon was spent on the bus back to Saigon again. We didn't book a hotel for our last night in Vietnam so we randomly picked a hotel to stay in. Bad move because the next morning MH had some weird bites all over him & the itch was killing him. Lucky me was bite-free heheh. :X Anyway, the rest of our time in Vietnam was more relaxing.. On our last night we just treated ourselves to a scrumptious dinner and then headed back to rest. On our last day we went to the War Remnants Museum before packing up and heading to the airport. Seeing photographs from the war and the birth defects of people affected by Agent Orange during the war sent chills down our spine. We also saw a guillotine (the thing used to chop heads off) and how the Vietnamese were tortured. :/

It was sad that we were leaving Vietnam so quickly. 8 days is definitely too short a stay! There are still so many things to see, and I would love to taste more of their local food. Can't wait for our next trip, whenever and wherever that is, haha. Time to save up again!