Ho Chi Minh (HCM) was just as I expected it, busy, dirty, chaotic, huge and polluted. Thankfully it was only for a few days. Blair wanted to visit a town in the Mekong delta and we would go there tomorrow. We both took a room at Hotel 97 right in the middle of the backpacker area of the city. Pretty much anything you need is in this small area and its full of foreigners. I call Linh, my friend from Tuy Hoa. She lives in HCM and meets us for dinner at 7. She takes us to a local place and we have delicious pho, Vietnamese noodle soup.

Although Linh has been living in HCM for 11 years, she hasn’t spent much time in the Mekong delta and is going to come with Blair and I. The next morning she meets us at 8am and we go for breakfast. We take a city bus to the bus station and get tickets to Vinh Long.