Ho Chi Minh City

This weekend was the Khmer Pchum Ben holiday, and Em & I decided to visit Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. It was our first visit to Vietnam, and living in Phnom Penh, the level of development and environment in Ho Chi Minh were striking - there were trees and parks everywhere, the roads were good, there were pavements to walk on, no-one drove on the wrong side of the street and very few ran red lights. Crossing the road was a joy...it's surprising how simple things can bring such pleasure.

Although we only explored the centre, I really found Ho Chi Minh to be a wonderful city. The people we met were friendly, it was easy to get around, and I loved the architecture, bars and restaurants. We had been given some great recommendations for places to eat and drink - the stand out for me was "The Refinery" (74/7 Hai Ba Trung St), a French bistro which served the best steak i've eaten in South-East Asia. I thoroughly enjoyed my birthday, which included a visit to the fascinating "Reunification Palace" and a micro-brewery tour organised by Em (more on both of these later).

Anyway, below is a random collection of photo's, and a video showing a traditional Vietnamese musical performance on the steps of the opera house, watched by large numbers of moto riders who were cruising past and stopped to check it out.