One last day in Ho Chi Minh City

The weekends always seem to pass so quickly – regardless of whether we stay in Singapore or venture out to another city, Sunday always arrives way before I’m ready for it.

            Following our lovely dinner (and a glass or two of wine) on Saturday night, when I woke up at 8am on Sunday morning ready to play, I felt that I couldn’t really justify waking Nick up before necessary again, so I slipped out of bed, threw on whatever clothes I could find and I headed out into the early morning city to see the final few buildings that we had on our list to visit, and that I knew Nick had seen during his previously visits to the city.

            Thanks to the fantastic location of our hotel the main things that I wanted to see were all within a ten minute stroll, with an extra bonus being that I only had to brave crossing few roads, and I only had to face early morning traffic too.

            When I left the hotel I made my way first to the Saigon Opera House, where live music was being performed on the main steps, and where hundreds of bikes had just pulled up in the middle of the road to stop and listen. It was quite an incredible spectacle, and one that I certainly wouldn’t have expected to see at that time of the morning.

Live music and a captive audience at the Opera House

From there I wandered up to Notre Dame Cathedral (a miniature version of the real one) that the French built here to remind them of home, and the utterly beautiful post office which has become one of the most recognisable buildings in the city as it’s so spectacular and also out of place.

Notre Dame Cathedral 

After a quick coffee at a little local shop I then braved heading back to the hotel to wake Nick up ready for our lunch plan.

Lunch by the river 

Lunch by the river 

Not only had Nick found a fabulous place by the water for lunch before we had to make our way to the airport, it was made even better by the fact that you could get a free boat ride down the river to get there! 

River life

After a fabulous adventure taking the 15 minute route down the river, seeing a real mix of busy overflowing city and rural Vietnamese life, we arrived at The Deck, where we then passed the rest of our Sunday eating fantastic seafood, enjoying the view, and really just soaking up all the atmosphere and sights. At times, we felt so far away from the bustle of the city, but it was strange to think that the rest of the world was carrying on just a couple of miles down the country roads!