... in Mrs SB’s words “The food is amazing"

Up here, we not only have plethora of Pho houses, but also shops that sell Bhan Mi, a sort of Vietnamese sandwich. The marinated and grilled meats plus veggies and sauces served on a baguette.

Have you found those there?

 

Indeed we have Woof, but as Mrs SB is gluten intolerant we tend to go for the rice or rice based noodle dishes.

My favourite here is anything based around grilled pork.

Cheers, SB

 

Ah see you both are having a great time there Seb. Pics are great - totally envious

 

Trip looks great so far, can't wait to see some video!

 

Your wish is my command jarvid!

Uploading 13 minutes of leaving Saigon traffic at 7 in the morning video as I type. Slow connection where we are so it will be up sometime tonight.

Mrs SB and I are off to the pool for a cool down swim before I write the days report.

I can say it was great to get back on the bike and the traffic is as much if not more mental than we remember.

Cheers, The Travelling 'Bears

 

Sprock my man, forget those weeks in Ireland and Europe, get yourself over here. It's a challenge to every aspect of life - and the food.......ahhhhhhh........the food. Sensory overload for the nose and taste buds.

Not to mention 75c beers and $1.20 packs of cigarettes and $8 bottles of Bombay sapphire.

I'm drowning

Cheers, SB

 

First day of the tour on the bikes.

A short hop of 116 km from Saigon to Vung Tau. This town has some significance for Australians who served in Vietnam. The port of Vung Tau lies in the south of South Vietnam on a peninsula that extends from the southern tip of Phuoc Tuy province into the South China Sea. Already a popular resort before the war, Vung Tau came to be used by Australian and American servicemen as a rest area.


Mrs SB and myself ready for the off just before 7 AM in Saigon. Already the hot and humid (peaked at 32 C and 90% plus humidity) and the traffic was starting to build significantly.

We had carefully mapped the route but getting out of Saigon proved a little difficult………..


As you can see

I’ll be posting a video of this shortly when it has uploaded.

After getting severely geographically misplaced on numerous occasions we eventually found the correct route and made our way to Vung Tau. The road followed Highway A1 for part of the way and our reintroduction to choking diesel fumes and dust reminded us why we went inland last trip.

We found our hotel in the ‘Front Beach’ part of Vung Tau and were extremely pleased with the view.


Looking out to the left from our balcony and………..


To the right. Looking straight out our main window you can see all the tugs and other freight vessels waiting to use the port.

It turns out the hotel, quite fortuitously, is also hosting a reunion of Aussie Vietnam Veteran Tunnel Rats the same time we are here. The Vietnam Tunnel Rats are the men who served in the Engineer Field Troops in Vietnam (3 Field Troop and 1, 2 and 3 Troop of 1 Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers).
For the bulk of the war there were three Troops, each of around 40 men, a total of 120 Tunnel Rats in Vietnam per year.

These are the men who went bush with the Armoured Corp and Infantry, staying out bush for four to six weeks, operating as Infanteers plus carrying out specialist duties of mine and booby trap detection and clearing, tunnel and bunker searching and demolition, plus bomb disposal.

(photobucket is down for maintenance at the moment so no more photos until morning)

Cheers, The Travelling ‘Bears

 

You had me at 75c beers.

 

Looks like a fabulous place Seb.

The biggest of those model ships is almost big enough for you to sail home in!

 

You had me at the $8 bottles of bombay Sapphire lol

Nice hotel view & the gutsy Tunnel Rats wow what an amazing troop of Guys
talk about bravery ! unreal.