Our last port of call in Vietnam was Phu My, the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City. Having previously cruised through this port a couple of times, we decided not to make the 90 minute bus trip into the city. As much as I love HCMC, we have seen the majority of the sights previously and spending three hours traveling for a feed and WiFi seemed crazy. Although the lure of Pepper Lunch and super fast WiFi was strong, my tight arse ways just wouldn’t extend to the ship’s US$80 a person bus in.
Instead we opted for the ship’s 40 minute shuttle into the smaller town of Ba Ria. To my disgust (yes over dramatic) the previously free shuttle bus now had a US$15 charge (not a happy ending for a tight arse).
Arriving in the town, things were not looking too promising when we were dropped at a local shopping mall. I’m not sure if the term ‘mall’ was an accurate representation as it consisted of a supermarket and a KFC (possibly Kentucky Fried Cat). My thoughts of a huge shopping Mecca with amazing WiFi was dashed by aisles of washing detergent and hygiene products. Whilst holding maps of HCMC, multiple passengers looked dopey eyed at each other, presumably believing they had caught the bus into the big city. My sadistic side found entertainment from their map turning (doesn’t change holding the map upside down) and desperate search for street signs. I could have been a Good Samaritan and tried to explain but instead I am probably going to hell.
Still in search of shoes for our son, we decided to again brave the prodding and poking of another Vietnamese market. That boy owes us big time and I won’t be letting him forget it! Clenching my handbag (watch out for those bag grabbing scooters riders) we headed off on foot. Some of the dopey eyed, map holding passengers followed us. Probably not their smartest move given we had no idea where we were going. I guess it is safer than repeated map twirling though.
Arriving at the markets (how smart are we with no map?) we found a slightly (I’m being kind) run down building comprising of a range of ‘quality’ tat. Strangely enough (really no surprise), traipsing through stall after stall of copy products resulted in failure to find the shoes again. A wander through the food markets (hygiene questionable, perhaps they should visit the supermarket for ideas) and we retreated back to the supermarket area.
On the verge of retreating to the ship, we had a stroll through the back streets. Our luck turned with locating Highland Coffee Shop where not only was the snack delicious, but the WiFi was fast enough for me to upload the multiple blogs that were mounting up.
Sucking up WiFi without a purchase seemed a bit cheeky (remember I am already going to hell today) so we bought a couple of drinks. Panic of karma (maybe I should have helped the dopey eyed) struck as it arrived full of ice. Rule number one in Vietnam is to refuse ice. Only time will tell if my consumption of ice will result in the ice expelling in an unpleasant way.
Still sucking up the WiFi, I phoned the son to advise him of our shoe failure. Whilst discussing our next task of finding a leg and foot massage, he asked me to pass on a message to hubby for him to watch out for the ‘happy ending’ massage. My thoughts are if they can touch the no-no zone whilst massaging his feet then I have been missing something these past 26 years.
For the bargain price of AUD$18 (and no pressure of extra tips) we then enjoyed an hour massage and hubby safely walked away with a happy ending not involving a massage of his no-no zone. Having 25 minutes to wait for the shuttle back to the ship, we decided to try Vietnamese KFC. Given multiple ship crew were there buying their lunch, the fear of cat instead of chicken didn’t seem warranted. Cat or chicken, it tasted 100% better than the KFC at home. Perhaps it was cat!