My early start was made less painful today since I was travelling business class to HCMC. Don’t get me wrong, I do not normally travel in style but it is just so cheap to fly domestically in Vietnam. I must admit when booking online I wasn’t sure what the plane was going to be like, a bad western assumption I know, so booked the best I could afford ( was cheaper than any flight around Europe). I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with Vietnam Airlines, quality as good as any other airline. I do have to admit that I almost forced my iPad and plastic bag of liquids on the security person when they said I didn’t need yo show them. I am so used to the extreme of Munich where I have to pull apart my camera every time.

Since I am in Saigon for a very short period of time (mainly because people I spoke to weren’t that impressed with HCMC and I was short on time) I decided to do a city tour on a motorbike. It was fantastic!

The guys and gals at Back of the Bike Tour do an excellent job of telling you the history and stories of the city as they drive you around amongst the crazy traffic. They ensured we tried as many different fruits and bread in the markets as possible and were very protective of us as we walked parts of the city. We saw quite a few of the different districts which you probably wouldn’t see on your own. We also visited all the major attractions of the city, like the cathedral, the bridge built by Gustav Eiffel and the post office. The post office not only looks like a train station, it has an interesting history and there is an 85 year old man who used to work there as a translator and still goes and sits in the post office every day. What an incredible amount of stories he would have to tell. The dinner at the end of the tour at a street stall of a friendly Vietnamese lady was pretty awesome as well. Highly recommend this company whether you are in Saigon for 1 day or 1 week.

Saigon seems to be a little bit seedier than Hanoi. When the girl came and picked me up for the tour it was recommended that I take my necklace off otherwise people may try and rip it off me while on the bike. This meant that taking photos while on the bike was also not a good idea.

Click here for more pictures of my vietnamese adventure