Ho Chi Minh City

I left Sihanoukville on Sunday morning with the aim of the day to cross the border into Vietnam. I had several options in terms of where to cross the border, and in the end I decided I would cross the Moc Bai border where most people cross to get to Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. To get there I had to catch a bus to Phnom Penh, arriving about lunchtime, before catching another bus to Ho Chi Minh City.

Prior to arriving at the border the bus driver took every passengers passport, and whilst we stopped at this small cafe he got us all stamped out of Cambodia. We then got back on the bus to Vietnam side, where he did a similar process handing over every passengers passport to get stamped in. When he returned our passports on the bus however I was only stamped in for a 15 day period, when I had in fact been granted a 30 day visa a couple of weeks prior. When I questioned this to the bus driver he was more interested in getting to Ho Chi Minh City, so I couldn't really do much about it until the following day. We didn't arrive into Ho Chi Minh City until darkness, and I was very glad when I finally got to lie down as it was a very long day!

On Monday I went out and explored Ho Chi Minh City for the day, although I firstly wanted to try and resolve my visa issue. I googled where the immigration office was and it happened to be near the Jade Emerald Pagoda, so I went there en route. Unlike many of the other temples I visited it felt almost swallowed up by the city, Ho Chi Minh housing over 10 million people (which is over double the population of the entire of Laos) and a lot of high rise buildings. Despite not being very photogenic it was a very interesting place. I then went to the immigration office who weren't any help whatsoever, seeming more interested in selling me an alternative visa. That left me completely unsure what to do.

Instead of worrying about my visa I just went out and explored the city, using this walking tour I downloaded online which took me to some the historically significant buildings including the Notre Dame Cathedral, Opera House, and City Hall. The city was incredibly busy and chaotic, and every time I crossed a road I felt as if I was putting my life on the line with motorcycles left, right, and centre! There was an array of shopping options around the city, as well as street food vendors selling some very suspect things. Later on in the day I visited the Zoo and Botanic Gardens, which was a little run down but housed things like Tigers, Giraffes, and Elephants. I particularly liked the bears though which were very active.

When returning to the hostel the owner helped me with my visa issue, and she told me that the stamp in my passport was a 15 day visa, and that my evisa document was simply a letter of approval and not an official visa. She gave me the address of the government immigration office and told me to speak to them for more advice. It appeared I hadn't gone to the official immigration office earlier in the day and instead went to a travel agency type place which focused on selling you visas.

The following morning I went to the office, and they confirmed that I had only been granted a 15 day visa, and told me my evisa could no longer be granted now that I was in the country, and that I should have questioned it at the border. They said the only way to use my evisa was to return to the border, exit Vietnam, cross back into Cambodia, and then re enter Vietnam, but there were no guarantees I would be allowed back into both Cambodia and Vietnam due to using two visas in a short space of time. They said my only other option was to apply for a visa extension with them, but I would have to leave my passport with them and they said that process takes up to a week with again no guarantee of it being granted. In the end I decided I would have to only stay 15 days which was absolutely gutting as I'd envisaged seeing Vietnam in 30 days as basically impossible, so to be restricted to just 15 days was very frustrating, but there wasn't really much I could do about it.

After leaving the immigration office I headed out to the Cu Chi Tunnels for the day. The Cu Chi Tunnels are a massive network of underground tunnels and chambers in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City, about 90km outside the city centre. They were originally part of a much larger network of tunnels that ran as far as Ho Chi Minh City and even the Cambodian border during the Vietnam war. The tunnels were dug with simple tools and bare hands during the French occupation in the 1940s, and further expanded during the Vietnam War in the 1960s to provide refuge and a defensive advantage over the American soldiers. Despite all the bombings in their town, the Cu Chi people were able to continue their lives beneath the soil, where they slept, ate, planned attacks, healed their sick, and taught their young. Some even wed and gave birth underground, but over 10,000 lost their lives here.

I caught local buses out there which was surprisingly straightforward despite having to change buses along the way. Prior to arriving at the tunnels, there was a nice little walkway along the rivers edge, taking you via this temple which had these fascinating mosaics which I think depicted the Vietnam War. There were also many rusting war relics including bombs, guns, and vehicles outside the entrance to the tunnels. As part of my entrance fee I got a guide who was actually really good at putting everything in context. Along the way we passed several relics and scenes recreating the war, and we watched a very interactive video explaining the history of the war.

We then got to explore several of the tunnels and bunkers, which were a little chlostrophobic in places but I still managed to fit just about. Later in the tour we got to experience a typical Vietnamese War lunch which consisted a water and cassava, as well as passing through several interactive workshop areas including a brilliant recreation of some of the traps they used to capture food and stop the opposition during the war. The tour took over 3 hours in the end but our guide was brilliant as keeping us engaged and I really enjoyed it. When arriving back in the city I relaxed at my hostel for a bit, before heading back to where the city hall was, which had a long walking street with street entertainers surrounded by some of the cities modern high rise.

On Wednesday I went out first thing to sort out my bus ticket north, walking there via the Tan Dinh Cathedral which had a striking pink facade. Unlike everywhere else I've visited in Asia there were actually quite a lot of Catholic buildings which is a change from all the temples! It wasn't a very nice day and it kept raining, so I was considering visiting the War Remnants museum and Reunification Palace which were both museums to do with the Vietnam war. In the end I opted against that and decided to go to the cinema to watch the new Jurassic World film which was really good. After the film I looked round a couple of the shopping malls as it was just pouring with rain, eventually making it back to my hostel to collect my stuff. Before catching my night bus north to Nha Trang I had a look round the Ben Thanh market, before heading to this street food market for dinner. The food in Ho Chi Minh was definitely some of the best I've had in Asia.