What a day! Right up there with my cruise highlights was our day in Ho Chi Minh, capital of Vietnam

It’s often said a good guide makes the tour and we lucked out with Lucky Luke – he was excellent

I escorted the tour to Ho Chi Minh which included the Parliamentary Palace, Temple, Rickshaw Ride, lunch and a trip to the War Museum so we really packed a lot into the day, though we should have seen the main market we did a short stop at a smaller one with at least a few minutes for some shopping – new handbag for me!

The general consensus was that the Palace wasn’t very palatial. It was plain grey outside and while the rooms were big, they weren’t overly grand, but it was lovely to see inside and hear some of the history

Then it was time for the Rickshaw ride! We only find out the night before what tours we are working on & I have to admit I’d doubts about this one. But this arthritic old girl, who’s not the smallest, managed to clamber in with help and off we went through the streets of Vietnam! And I loved it! When the drivers see you are OK with it they do take you out into the crazy traffic and it was fabulous to be there with the mopeds bustling around you from every angle. The rules of the road are simple, the bravest goes first!

If I can do it, anyone can. It’s certainly an experience I’ll remember forever. Never did I think I’d be riding through the streets of Saigon in a rickshaw, but I did

The rickshaw ride ended at the cathedral where we were free to explore. Inside was beautiful but I loved the feather dusters. There so you could dust your area to help keep the cathedral clean & tidy, so I did

We then walked to the Chinese temple which was a mixture of Taoist and Buddhist before heading to the restaurant for lunch

Now lunch was delicious. Luc had taken our orders at the start of the day and phoned them through, my vegetarian option did not disappoint and presentation was exceptional

I’d also my first taste of jackfruit which was very tasty indeed

The war museum was one of the key features of this tour, and indeed the reason why many guests booked the trip. For me it was just too harrowing and I did not hang about too long inside. Instead I bought a drink in the museum store and had some quiet time on a bench in the grounds.

When you went out of the museum grounds you couldn’t get back in. This meant half our group ended up meeting outside, waving at me through the fence and the other half inside the grounds at our meeting point. But all was well, we were soon back together and on our way again

We just had time for one last stop before heading back to the ship, where if memory serves me right, we were still late!

As far as I can remember this was the old post office and was beside where the first bomb was dropped, but I could be wrong. Inside there were some small market stall type shops and this is where I bought the new handbag. I’d have loved one of those long dress type tops that are slit to the waist as worn by the Vietnamese ladies, but I’m not exactly Vietnamese sized so would have needed the more touristy main market.

I don’t know how you sum up Vietnam in just a few photos and words. This was very different to my experience before in Hoi An and on the Mekong Delta but I absolutely loved it, and the one common element was the warmth and friendliness of the people, oh and the really good food. A brilliant day in Vietnam