Bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City

This was our first experience booking flights over a Singapore public holiday weekend and we quickly learned that you had to book early in order to avoid hugely expensive flights. So with this in mind we decided to go to Ho Chi Minh City for Chinese New Year. Ho Chi
Minh city, or Saigon as the locals still call it, is just a short flight away
from Singapore and is relatively cheap in comparison with other
destinations. It took a long time to clear immigration due to the slow
visa on arrival process and one poor couple hadn't got their approval
letter in advance so were sent back on the plane to Singapore. We
arrived at our hotel late and had dinner and drinks on the hotels
rooftop terrace. We were pleasantly surprised when fireworks started
lighting up the sky.
The next day our guide collected us from our hotel and we drove out
of the city towards the Cu Chi Tunnels. Half way to the Chu Chi
Tunnels we diverted off the main highway and into the countryside.
From here we traveled the rest of the way by bike. This was the second bike tour that we had done in Asia and we were quickly
becoming to realize that this was a great way to see the countryside.
We biked through local villages, cemeteries and rubber tree
plantations, stopping off at a road side shop to buy lacquer bowls,
before arriving at the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cu Chi Tunnels were a
huge complex of tunnels that were built during the Vietnam war and
weave through the countryside hidden to the eye. The tunnels had
been widen in a number of areas to allow tourists to crawl inside.
There were a number of larger bunkers where they showed us videos

and displayed clothing and weapons. At the end of the tour there was a machine gun firing range where we could choose between any number of guns to fire. So Rich of course was quick to choose an
AK47 and fire numerous rounds into the opposite hillside.
The following day we were picked up from our hotel by the Tiger
Tours girls. Rich and I both jumped on the back of their Vesper bikes
and headed off into the city. The Tiger Tour girls took us to the main
colonial boulevards where we saw the Ho Chi Minh statue, opera
house, cathedral and old post office. We then went to a temple where
we watched locals perform traditional rituals for Chinese New Year. This included throwing baby turtles into a pit for good luck. The tour finished off at a local market where we ate chicken noodle soup - a
delicacy in Vietnam - before being dropped back off at our hotel.
The majority of locals traveled by vesper and had mastered the art of
riding through tiny gaps and weaving to avoid traffic. We quite often saw a whole family including animals balanced on one vesper. Traveling by vesper was an amazing experience if not terrifying at
times and made you think twice before crossing a road. The trip was
finished off with a drink at the infamous Rex hotel rooftop.