Continuing my journey South from my previous days in North and Central Vietnam, I explored Hoi An, the Meekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City.

Hoi An

A shopping mecca, this city is well known for its markets, historic trading houses, and modern day fashion boutique stores. The best value shopping you can do is on tailor made clothing.

There are many tailors offering good prices on any design you would like made with a huge selection of fabrics and can make it in under 24 hours! Very impressive. They will also keep your measurements in file for three years in case you want more made and shipped home.

I could not resist the chance to purchase a new formal ball gown, and the price was a bargain. I gave them a photo of what l wanted and came back the next afternoon to find it all done, and looking beautiful.

On another day in Hoi An, I secured my bike helmet once again and headed onto a ferry to two main islands for a cycle tour. I had the chance to visit three local families and see how they made their living from the land around them.

One family showed us how they spent from 4am to 9pm using dried and dyed reeds from the garden to make floor, bed and table mats. I had a try at it and it was not as easy as it looked!

Another family invited us to sing together after showing us their in home process of making rice wine to sell to the people in their community. This was very impressive in its sustainability. For example the man (who was a one legged veteran – making it more impressive) kept pigs and he used the ‘pigshit gas’ as its locally known to fuel the fires that are used to run his operation!

Lastly, we got a chance to hand make our own rice noodles and enjoy a delicious lunch full of local ingredients.

The best thing was, in all of this, I never fell off the bike! Even when I thought I could pass out from the heat!

Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

In the early hours of the morning we took a short flight with Vietnam Airlines to Ho Chi Minh City. The city is referred to by many as Saigon, as this is its former name. Since the end of the Vietnam War, the city was renamed after its victorious communist leader, Ho Chi Minh. There are many monuments and images of him throughout Vietnam, as his party still stands in place today.

In HCM City you can visit only a few attractions like the Independence Palace, former state home of the president, and the War Remnants Museum, which is an impressive and informative space to learn about the war history in Vietnam. It is really complex as many other countries have been involved in commanding the country and has left a lot of wounds behind.

I found the museum to be a little one sided but this makes sense as it will have been censored by the government, before publishing. The most striking elements of the museum was the information about the ‘agent orange’ chemical that had been used. It is now considered a war crime and has left many generations of people, severely deformed. I could see this on the street when some people may be passing or begging, and I suspected that they were victims of this.

Aside from these visitor attractions, HCM offers plenty of places to eat and shop, but it is very modern and definitely, for me, not the highlight of the trip.

In about two hours drive from the city you can visit the Meekong Delta. The most South I went, this wetland area offers plenty of boat rides to different islands where you can see different markets, temples and localised farming.

I spent the day visiting a few different islands by boat, and had the opportunity to see local coconuts being shredded up into coconut milk and turned into sweets and wrapped by hand. I did actually get carried away and bought 6 packets for the price of 5! I think I got a bit silly.

I also visited some local people’s garden and tried some of their homegrown fruits, including a Vietnamese Kiwi, that is a local delicacy, and tastes nothing like Kiwi from home! I also had a chance to play a monostring instrument that is traditional there, and much harder to do well then it looks! To finish off, I had a chance to enjoy a traditional wooden row boat ride through the bush before heading back to the city.

Overall, Vietnam was a great chance to dip my toe into Asia. The people have been super friendly; I always felt safe, and appreciated. The holiday was great value and I would happily revisit. In the Meekong Delta you can even take a boat cruise out there onto Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. This could be a lot of fun!