I became a bit obsessed with bubble tea at this point. I'd seen a couple places in Phnom Penh but never at the right time so had gotten the idea really fixed in my head. So it was very convenient when the shuttlebus from our highway bus (huh? I'm confused too, don't worry) dropped us off in the tourist area of Saigon, we needed wifi to contact our contact aaand there was a lovely looking bubble tea place advertising said wifi right on the corner! Done and done.
While sipping deliciously refreshing tea and squishing on bubbles, we got in touch with a lovely Italian girl who hosted us on her couch/floor for our stay in the city. We finished out tea, hopped in a cab and after getting only slightly lost (the cab drivers here often only pretend to know where they're going) and getting directions fromsome English boys walking on thestreet, we met a whirlwind of a girl, who promptly whisked our bags away on her motorbike, coming back in 5 minutes with her flatmate to do the same with us.
After a gorgeous homecooked meal of pasta, salad and spanish tortilla (another of the flatmates was Spanish) and a bit of getting to know each other, we called it an early night.
Over the next four dáys the touristic highlights of Saigon included
1. The reunification Palace, famous for several reasons including being the site where the Vietnam war ended
2. The War Remnants Museum, a clearly one-sided but still quite tragic look at the war
3. The central market, where you are baraged from every side by eager vendors...though that's quite standard at a market pretty much anywhere in SE Asia
4. Riding around in the chaotic yet somehow extremely eficient and functional traffic that is 99% motorbikes...on the back of one of those motorbikes (yes mom I wore a helmet!)
Sadly, we were not able to get to the CuChi Tunnels,one of the main things to see. It's our own fault, we were just lazy at first (it's a two hour ride and we didn't want to spend money on a tour/get up really early) and then when we finally did get around to it, on our last day, we got so hopelessly lost just trying to get out of the city we decided to just call it quits...and go get an ice coffee and yes, some more bubble tea. I was disappointed but some things just aren't worth the stress.