Up fairly early this morning to try and sort a tour or two for the time left in the city. Looked in a few travel guides and got the usual over inflated rates for the same bus tours to the tunnels or full day tours to the Mekong delta. I didn’t have any full days left before leaving for Hanoi.
Tripadvisor to the rescue!! Found a company that did motorcycle tours in the evening and during the day. Saigon Buddy Tours were said to be fully booked by Tripadvisor but I sent an email and soon enough had the price and details for a tour to sample the street foods of Ho Chi Minh.
I was collected at the hotel by two young Vietnamese ladies on motorcycles who then took me on a tour of the city and we stopped at about 6 different places to eat different types of food. Both ladies spoke very good English and I felt very safe on the back of one of the motorcycles, even in the rain.
Baby bananas and star fruit were very dry tasting but everything else was very good. Fried chicken feet, fermented quails eggs, fried baby squid were supposed to be delicacies from the North of Vietnam. The fermented eggs looked like eyeballs and didn’t look very appetising but were quite pleasant. The chicken feet were crunchy as expected and the baby squid were lovely especially with a little sauce.
I was offered the opportunity to cook some style of pancakes but declined and just stood and watched as they were made. Traditional bread with all manner of meat and pates were also on the menu. Fresh juices or smoothies could be enjoyed as well. All in all a very good tour that lasted for about four and a half hours. All food and drinks were included in the price as well (about £30-00).
Biggest regret was not taking the GoPro with me as at times cutting across 6 lines of motorcycles that seemed to have right of way takes some explaing, even if it didn’t really feel dangerous!!