[Nha Trang to Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam] Ten hours on a bus with radioactive sunburn is just not fun. The day passed slowly even with the aid of some podcasts and the changing scenery. We stopped for lunch in the quaint looking beach town of Mui Ne – may have been a cool spot to spend a night. The bus was again empty and by the time we got to HCMC (named after ‘Uncle Ho’ as he is know) there were less than ten passengers on board – I really don’t know how they can afford to run in low season.

HCMC is a massive modern (in parts) metropolis with a population of around 8 million (4 times that of Hanoi) complete with it’s ‘Kao San road’ type backpacker ghetto. It’s a crazy place with 6 million motorbikes buzzing the noisy and hectic streets. Luckily our bus stopped in the main backpacker area and our GPS confirmed a short 300m stroll to the hotel we were interested in (not that there was a shortage of options). The Hong Han Hotel, although slightly more expensive than we wanted, was perfect.

We ditched our gear and headed out for dinner. The street is lined with every type of food you can imagine. We picked a fancy looking Italian place because it had aircon and looked quiet. Delicious four cheese gnocchi. Exquisite ! Though V thinks they need to work on their pizza. Tomorrow we’ll check out some of the city sites – or we could just hang around the hotel and eat a plate of everything we’ve be craving for the past five months.

[Pictures: Finally made it – we were knackered. Our hotel’s terrace – boring I know]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi