Day 8 Tuesday 31st March, Da Nang to Ho Chi Min City

Our flight was at the very respectable time in the early afternoon, so we were able to sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast before returning to our room to pack. I had time for a short walk along the street, but Rob decided it was too warm for him and stayed around the reception area to chat. While out walking I met a young Vietnamese woman, standing next to her scooter waiting for a gate to be opened. She stopped me to say how much she liked the colour of my hair. I thanked her and then she asked where I was from, and when I said Australia, she immediately responded with, “G’day mate” which made me laugh. We chatted for a short time as she wanted to practise her English, before I continued on my way. We were taken to the airport and luckily had plenty of time! Check-in and security lines were very long and by the time we had got through, we only had to wait 40 minutes or so before boarding. The flight from Da Nang to Ho Chi Min City took 90 minutes. A funny thing happened to Rob once we’d landed. We were taken from the plane to the terminal in busses. Our bus was quite full as you would expect. We were standing and a young mother with about a two-year-old toddler sitting on her lap, saw Rob and offered her seat to him. He declined! He was not sure how he felt about the fact that this woman had offered her seat to him and not anyone else. We were greeted by our new guide a very young, but extremely organised woman called Tiny. A coach took us to our beautiful hotel, Paragon, conveniently located in the centre of this big bustling city.  We are close to the Opera house and many historical landmarks so I’m looking forward to doing some exploring. Tiny joined our WhatsApp group and put in links and maps to ATMs, convenience stores, markets, restaurants etc. all within walking distance. She also produced a hard copy of the map and a list of dos and don’ts to ensure we have a great experience.  We needed our e-visas for Cambodia printed off so while on the bus to our hotel, Tiny asked us to send them to her which we did. When we arrived at the hotel, the visas had been printed off and Tiny handed them to us with the keycard for our room.  The room’s compendium has an interesting list of “Important Local Police & Safety Regulations” which I took a photo of. Point number two is quite interesting! J We had a lovely evening, finding a small restaurant for dinner before taking a night sightseeing tour. The lights of the city were nothing short of spectacular from the top level of the double-decker bus. All these things were just a short stroll from our hotel.











Bus Trip Route



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