I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City the same day that President Trump arrived in Hanoi. From what I understand from Vietnam’s point of view it was a positive thing as his visit makes the world more aware of Vietnam.
I only cycled in the south of Vietnam – which was flat. I had just over two weeks to get to the Vietnam Cambodian border Vietnam. The traffic is busy in Ho Chi Minh City. I had to learn not to stop or freeze at junctions, roundabouts or crossing and to just keep on moving and weave in between traffic; the traffic was crazy but I enjoyed it.
I visited the Vietnam War Museum, which was really well done.
I didn’t really know much about the country, like for example that it was communist and that there was at one point a trade embargo between the US and Vietnam.
I loved the food and coffee. There were coffee shops everywhere. People were really really friendly, for example one restaurant owner after giving me loads of food wouldn’t let me pay for my meal. I enjoyed going to non-touristic towns and cities where people tried to communicate with me because they were curious as to what I was doing in that town.
They have floating markets.
![IMG_0278[1]](https://pfaffingandcycling.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/img_02781-e1553777501252.jpg?w=750)
![IMG_0297[1]](https://pfaffingandcycling.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/img_02971.jpg?w=750)
Crossing from Vietnam to Cambodia I luckily managed to avoid the scams that they have in place to try and charge visitors for stamping their passport.
Susan Doram 
This looks so interesting – but riding a bike sounds quite scary (or crazy!). It’s amazing how many countries you have visited so far, I can’t imagine how difficult it will be for you to come back to th UK. Just enjoy every minute and hope to see you back for your birthday!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The traffic was crazy, I don’t know how it worked but it did. People don’t seem to get angry when they’re driving. I don’t get as many vehicles riding too close to me like at home, and this is what I have enjoyed so much about cycling in South East Asia, there were times in the US and NZ where I hated cycling because of the traffic and people shouting at me to get off the road. Here large vehicles will generally tap their horns to let you know that they are approaching.
I don’t think that I’ve visited that many countries 😂, but I guess that I have. I think the problem is that when I was planning the whole trip I was reading everybody else’s blog and seeing that some travellers would have done the whole world in the 18 months that I’ve spent visiting only 11 countries, also there’s so many more countries that I want to visit it so 11 doesn’t like a lot 😂.
LikeLike