Vietnam - Day 2

It wasn't all play - Al actually had to do some work on our second day so I tagged along and tried to look 'professional'. The first meeting we had was with a luxury travel company who organise tours in South East Asia. I sat in on that meeting and got really excited about how many places we have to explore in this part of the world. Then we headed to the nearby Park Hyatt for another meeting Al had with the General Manager and his team. When we arrived (both of us in shorts, me looking like a hippie) the GM and about fifteen other people were lined up waiting for us in the lobby. We both felt a little embarrassed about 1) how late we were and 2) that we both looked like hippies. Lucky for me, I was able to skip that meeting and was whisked off instead for a complimentary breakfast and then an hour by the pool. Lovely! The Park Hyatt is the best hotel in the city and is extremely civilised (photos below).

My kind of place

As I was living the high life, Al was being given a detailed tour of every room in the place (nearly) and was valiantly trying to 'warm' her tour guides up - all she wanted was a smile! No luck, so we reconvened back at the Hotel Continental and hit the shops for a small-scale shopping spree. Extremely small-scale.

Another meeting in the afternoon resulted in quite a few changes to the Vietnam plans and by the evening we were both booked on new flights - me to fly back to Singapore, Al to Danang where she was booked in to see the Nam Hai (http://www.thenamhai.com/). So with our plans somewhat altered, we decided to make the best of our last night together. We headed up to the Saigon, Saigon bar for a cocktail. The bar was famous in the Vietnam war as the place where all the journalists would gather after a day reporting in the field. All the big news agencies were based in the Hotel Carravelle below. Across the square is the Rex Hotel, also famous as the CIA headquarters during the war. The bar didn't seem to have changed much and it was an extremely pleasant and breezy place to enjoy a Journalist's Juice (my drink) or a Saigon Sour (Al's) and take in the Ho Chi Minh skyline at night.

Saigon, Saigon bar - it really didn't look like it had changed at all in thirty years

The tall pointy building is the latest addition to the HCM skyline - they built a helipad on the side (just visible) but didn't think to ask whether they could land helicopters on it. They can't!!

Al propping up the bar

After a quick turnaround we headed to a trendy ex-pat hangout right on the banks of the Mekong River. After a few false starts with the cab driver (and wrong turns) we eventually got there and it was a blissful oasis of calm compared to the rest of our trip. Our table was right on the Mekong - we could have dipped our toes in the water - and we sat watching the boats float by and generally felt super relaxed. The photos don't really do it justice...but it was a very special place.

The Mekong at night

Ethnic

We both decided that we need to have a Vietnam War movie marathon when we got home - sitting by the Mekong made me want to see Apocalypse Now, Good Morning Vietnam and maybe even Air America again. Any other suggestions?

I was really sad to say goodbye to Al the next day at the airport. Al has been with me for the last week and a half, exploring Singapore and just generally keeping me company, so being back here without her is weird. But she is off doing much more exciting things - Cambodia today, Hong Kong on Friday!

To summarise my short trip to Vietnam though - I'll be back!