Long bus ride to Saigon before a couple hours in the city before heading back to the ship. Really short time in the city, but had fun for the brief stop that we had.
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc134
Saigon
After a couple hour ride to the city, we got dropped off in the middle of the city. It was a little (or very) annoying because we already had a very short amount of time to explore the city, but the “guide” wouldn’t stop talking, and wanted to keep taking us around the city in the bus. We ended up driving in a circle for about 15 extra minutes that we didn’t need to do (which left us 15 less minutes to explore).
I was mostly annoyed because the excursion we booked was literally just supposed to be the transportation to the city, so was going to try to sleep for the bus ride, and also wanted to get there as quick as possible, but the “guide” kept talking the entire way telling us about random things like his life story and his opinions on whatever came into his head. The volume was also insanely loud, and even though we told him to turn the volume down, he didn’t.
Finally got there and left as quickly as possible to get away from the cruise crowd.
Lunch
We wandered trying to find a Pho store, and there were a lot of them, but it was also the business district right at lunch time, so lots of places were completely full. Finally we found a place with a couple seats and we headed over.
They had some special pho in a stone bowl, which Mom and Nate got (with an egg!). So good, love some pho.
Around the City
Afterwards, we just walked around a bit, since we only had a couple hours. Found a gigantic bunny, and some other random shops before heading into a stationary / book store and then a Miniso featuring Lotso.
Rescued ALL the lotso merch…for a rainy day.
Finally, stopped by a Starbucks and got some mugs, but also found some really cute Bearista’s to add to the collection. The even came with little hats!
Bus Drama
We made it back to the bus, and as we got on the bus, one couple got on, and started yelling at some other people in a row and refused to sit down. Apparently, this other couple had stolen their seats, and from what I could hear, they’ve done it before and there’s some history there from previous excursions.
As the rest of us just waited and wondered what was happening, they stood at the front of the bus refusing to sit (so we couldn’t go). Some other guy which was sitting solo, offered to give up his seat (and row) to deescalate the situation, but as they were moving back to the row, the people sitting in their original seats must have said something to them, and the old guy lashed out and yelled something at the woman (along the lines of “shut up woman”), which then caused a whole commotion on the bus. So much drama.
My thoughts on the whole drama….
On one hand, I get why they were annoyed and upset, there’s standard bus etiquette that when you sit somewhere on a bus tour, you stay there for the duration (unless you ask someone to switch, etc.). There’s a couple reasons for this.
- Making sure no one is left behind. If people all sit in the same seat, you know your neighbors and can’t make sure the bus doesn’t leave if the seat is empty.
- Most people leave stuff on their seat while out and about, it’s such a hassle to then have to re-collect all your possessions and then figure out where to sit (without causing more musical chairs).
- It’s a bus ride, who cares where you sit.
On the other hand, how you deal with annoying and entitled people is also an interesting thing, and yelling at people generally doesn’t ever help anything, certainly not ok to curse at people either.
Back to Ship
We headed back, and there was a ton more talking by the guide, before he just shut up (finally) and we got a little bit of rest.
Got back to the ship, and was there in time to catch some of the sunset (and moon if you look closely. Lovely views as we set sail and continue on.
Food
Some more asian food while we’re over here. Spring rolls, dumplings, sweet and sour pork and some lychee tarts. Really good, but also just good to catch up and get a meal with the fam.
Entertainment
Afterwards, we headed back to my cabin again for a little bit more streaming, and while we were doing that, doing some editing and posting, etc. I put together another one of the puzzles (this one is smaller — it’s an A6 size notebook cover). Will use this one as more of a pocket notebook, mostly for planning stuff for the rest of the cruise and ideas for posting, etc.
Vibe Check
3 parts joy – PHO. family. lotso.
1 part anger – for “guide” who wouldn’t shut up and cost us extra time zigzagging through the city unnecessarily
1 part disgust – for bus drama
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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