ho Chi Minh

Well, our adventurous honeymoon is almost nearing its end. Though we are counting the 6 hour layover in Bangkok and the 14 hour flight as the last part of the honeymoon!

Our quick stay in Ho Chi Minh was lovely and full of laughs! We checked into our beautiful hotel, The Majestic, which has been around for a very long time, about 100 years to be exact! The hallways are lined with pictures of its glorious past. Peter upgraded and we were in a giant room with a balcony on the top floor overlooking the Saigon River. The buzz of traffic on the street below and the non-stop boats were the perfect sendoff from our beloved Vietnam.

We of course made very good friends right away with the woman checking us in. She is, like everyone we have met, the nicest, most helpful person! She pointed us in the right direction for our quick one day tour of Ho Chi Minh and she made some dinner reservations for us as well. When we came back to our room, she had it decorated with roses, chocolates, and towels in the shapes of swans!

We set out on foot and found our way to the biggest local market in the city, Ben Thanh Market. We had NO idea what we were in store for! At first, we were a bit overwhelmed, with absolutely everything packed into an extremely hot warehouse type of building. There were clothes, bags, shoes, food stalls, food vendors, gadgets, everything you could ever imagine all shoved very tightly into an enormous oven of a building!
Shopkeepers pushing their wares are eager to engage in lively bargaining…and so was Peter!!! By the end of it, Peter was getting deals that even the locals were shocked at! He may have a new calling! Sara, of course, wanted to give everyone money, because they were so sweet!

We made our way back from the market, stopping briefly for Peter to get a streetside Bahn Mi sandwhich (French roll with un-named meat patee, various porks, sauces, and a few local greens). We are a bit scared about his well being on the 14 hour flight home!

We returned to our hotel and had a send-off cocktail up on the historic rooftop of The Majestic. The view of the river and the sunset was lovely and a perfect way to reflect on our magical journey! A couple cocktails in, we realized we should go eat!

The restaurant was recommended to us both by the hotel and other travelers online. The food was okay, but the way it was set up was really neat. There were local vendors all set up along the outside of the restaurant and you go around and point to what you would like and then it is brought to your table. Our menu was…shrimp paste on sugar cane (this was the best), spring rolls, Vietnamese pancake, rice noodle pork pancake, and shrimp and squid skewers. The food was good, but perhaps catering a little more to tourists than locals.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our last meal in our magical Vietnam and set off to our hotel on foot. Peter got another banh mi on the way home, this one a bit spicy!! He ate it on the balcony as the traffic whizzed by below.

We are at the airport in Ho Chi Minh to begin our long journey home. We have quite the layover in Bangkok, so we will post again if we have any adventures while we are there!

Thank you all for following us on our journey! We have truly had the most remarkable time and love that this is only the beginning of our adventures in life together.

To all the “ban” we have made along the way…thank you (ca mon)!! We feel so lucky to know such incredible people here in Vietnam! Your spirit is contagious and we will always remember your beautiful hospitality and generosity! Thank you for making our trip unforgettable!
Love to you all!
p+s


ps....in the airport with lots of time to kill, we got the most painful 90 min Thai massages!!! we love honeymoon layovers!

okay, sadly it looks like we must board our flight to los angeles now! we will put up more pics and the rest of the videos when we return, we are having trouble with an internet connection here! LA...here we come!