There were so many signs along the way that let us know Daddy wanted us to take this trip and the first was that a Viking program officially began on December 5 with arrivals to the hotel…of course we came early so I could wake up in Vietnam on my birthday. With an action packed two weeks starting tomorrow, we took it easy today and after a late breakfast we headed down to the Ben Thranh Market. Note to self, any time anyone in Vietnam tells you something is a 10 minute walk from the hotel, add at least 15 minutes!
Ben Tranh Market is the oldest surviving building in Saigon. It was built in 1912 when Vietnam was under French occupation. The market is not for the faint of heart or anyone that is a pushover because the vendors will wear you down. In all the markets I’ve been to around the world, this is the first one where they get physical and try to pull you into their stall. It was a balmy 101 with 90% humidity so we were not in the mood for their antics and after picking up a few little things, we headed back to the hotel. Ted told us yesterday they no longer have Uber but instead have Grab so I downloaded the app…I’m so glad I did as did I mention it was hot and we had no intention of walking 25 minutes back to the hotel. As with many things in Vietnam, the Grab was very inexpensive…only $1.57. So after our tip, it cost us $4 to get back to the hotel and was probably the best $4 I’ve ever spent!
After relaxing a bit, we headed to B Relax for a 75 minute foot, head, neck and shoulder massage. When you arrive, they bring you warm jasmine tea. At the end of your treatment, they bring you more tea and some little sweet (we weren’t sure what it was but it was tasty). Apparently we were there during happy hour and received a 20% discount so after a very generous tip, our 2 massages rang up as $38. Yes, that is correct, $38 for 2 75 minutes massages!!
A little before we arrived in Saigon, Ted sent me a text asking if we would like to do a dinner cruise and rickshaw ride for my birthday and of course we said “yes”. Little did we know what we were in for with the rickshaw ride! We were right in the mix of the 8 million scooters and 1 million cars during rush hour! Pictures don’t really portray the chaos so I took a lot of videos. It was definitely an interesting experience and we were thankful the ride home was in a cab!
Happily we arrived safely at the boat! We had a good dinner with some singers and dancer. There was a lovely couple from the UK sitting next to us that provided some great conversation. On the other side of us was a family from Vietnam and later in the evening one of them wanted their photo taken with us as Vietnamese don’t get to see a lot of foreigners so when they do, they like having their photo taken with them. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel…in a taxi. Tomorrow our program with Viking officially begins.
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