It'll always be Saigon to us! (Ho Chi Minh City)

We absolutely LOVED Saigon, despite me being sick the entire time. The city is electric with motorbikes everywhere, tons of smog pollution, and lots of young people just hanging out in public spaces to pass the time.

Upon arrival in Saigon, we had dinner with Tommy at XU. I barely made it through, but Tommy and Ryan bonded over their love of beer. Had I been feeling better, I'm sure that the three of us would have made a night of it!

Tommy had made the 'executive decision' to switch our hotel from the Silverland Sayko (in the heart of the Japanese district, a little ways out of the downtown core) to the Grand Silverland, which was just opposite the Street Food Market. We didn't mind so much, except that the Grand Silverland wasn't the greatest, and no-one informed our Foodie tour drivers of the change hotel (more on that later).

The next day was sightseeing in 32 degree heat, with very little shade. I managed to have a bit of bread and fruit for breakfast, but did not wear sunscreen (only on my face, which promptly sweated off), as I thought we would have a driver cart us around the city. I was over it in about 2 hours, and we relayed to our guide Hoa three different times that we needed to go to a pharmacy. Can you believe we were unable to find one on our own in downtown Saigon?? We had researched the name of the medication I needed (thank you, language apps!!), and when we got to CHINATOWN to a pharmacy our guide came in to assist with the obvious language barrier. Medication in hand, we headed back to the hotel for a rest. After a few hours, I felt LOADS better, and we decided to head up to the rooftop pool for a dip, and Heineken draft. I believe that was my mistake, followed by the delicious pork belly bun and Saigon Special (Tommy's favourite beer, and therefore Ryan's new favourite) at the Street Food Market. I learned a valuable lesson that day: when you're starting to feel better after 6 days with a stomach bug, do NOT drink draft beer (were the lines (they take the beer from the keg to the tap) even clean??!? I don't think so!) and eat one of the fattiest food known to man (pork belly) and wash it down with a bottle of beer. Needless to say I did not feel up to our Foodie tour, and I *definitely* was not going to be able to visit the Cu Chi tunnels the next day. I sent a cancellation to Tommy for the Cu Chi tunnels, which meant I was missing out on an important piece of history (the tunnels the Viet Cong built to transport food and medicine to the fighters in the Vietnam War), a speedy boat ride, a cycling adventure around the countryside, and a delicious lunch. It *did* mean that we could rest in the morning before our noon checkout! which is exactly what I needed.

I wanted Ryan to go on the Foodie tour, since he would be experiencing local places that tourists don't usually have access to, while riding on a scooter (being driven by an expert, obviously)! We are the worst at deciding even the most mundane decisions, so there was a lot of back and forth and I was feeling better but it's best if I don't go, etc etc etc. We were getting picked up at 6pm, so Ryan went downstairs to tell them that we weren't going. Cue to 615pm (after a furious journaling session!) as I get dressed and go to the lobby, since they weren't there yet. I ran back to the room to grab Tommy's card, in case they weren't there by 630pm and we could ask for a refund. I should have grabbed one of the face masks I brought!! When I got back to the lobby the drivers were there, and very apologetic, stating they had been waiting at Silverland Sayko since 530pm. (Vietnamese are very punctual people, as it is considered very rude to be late, except under extreme circumstances.) We strapped on our helmets, I gave my electrolyte drink to the driver for safekeeping and we were off! I was not nervous or scared at all during the scooter portion of the evening - my driver was amazing and kept asking how I was doing. Ryan took a LOT of photos and videos of the madness, which I will no doubt force you to watch when we get home ;)

Armed with Maalox (we had figured out the day before that the ridiculous cramping I was experiencing was in part due to trapped gas, as my body was trying to work through whatever the heck it was going through!!) and Gravol (I packed a LOT of anti-nausea medication for this trip, cuz I know myself), we headed to the first stop of the tour, where we met our guide "T". It was an all-you-can-drink, all-you-can-eat tour, but I confided that due to a run-in with a bad street frog, I would be doing the best I could, but Ryan would have to represent the drinking Canucks. I had a Sprite at Café Zoom (owned by the same company as Vespa Adventures, who ran our Saigon After Dark Foodie tour), to keep the carbonation up and coax some burps out. Ryan maintains that it was too much sugar.

Our second stop was a little seafood restaurant, with the freshest clams we've ever tasted! We also enjoyed blue crab, mussels and a rice noodle dish before the 'surprise' came out: it was supposed to be frog, but due to my negative experience, "T" had called ahead and the restaurant prepared chicken instead. Too bad I was so full that I couldn't eat any of it! Let me reiterate: I had not been eating very much for the past 5 days, so the amount of food being presented to us absolutely blew my mind. After Ryan had to be my bathroom bodyguard (who tries REPEATEDLY to open a locked bathroom door, to the point where I was scared the lock would break off???? Apparently the same person who does not trust my husband when he says someone is already in the washroom, and the person waits a minute before attempting to try the door again!), we were off to the third stop for Vietnamese pancakes and spring rolls. Sadly, this is where the story ends, since I was NOT doing well and had to call the tour early. We missed going to a Vietnamese coffee shop, and a nightclub. Don't know how we would have managed if I wasn't sick, since we were supposed be picked up at 7am the next morning for Cu Chi tunnels!

We flew to Hoi An the next afternoon, and after much pain and strife I finally managed to find and eat soda crackers, and the road to recovery began!

The story continues in Hoi An on the 7th day of my stomach bug...

So much ridiculously delicious food at XU - where Whitey goes for a fancy Saigon meal ;)

Ryan, Tommy, and Saigon Special

Notre Dame Cathedral

Welcome, baby Jesus!

Relaxing on the rooftop of Saigon Silverland

.....just in case we needed it, we knew where the closest hospital was ;)

YUP

Super serious at the National Museum

Testing out my selfie stick

The delicious pork belly buns

...need to photoshop out that guy, though....

Vespa-ing through Saigon