Tasmania to Tokyo – Cát Tiên Park – Day 45 can be found here.
Almost back aboard! Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
We wake after a long, leisurely sleep in plush Presidential beds, the challenges of our Cát Tiên accommodations now well behind us.
Off to our included breakfast, which is perfectly serviceable. They have a wide range of fruits, youghurts, meats, potatoes and both eggs and omelettes made to order. There is also a cappuccino machine. That’s about all we ask from a hotel breakfast:
There’s a great view of the Saigon River and the city skyline, too:
I wish we could spare a full day to explore Ho Chi Minh City – particularly so we could find some back-alley restaurant with tiny stools and massive servings of fresh shrimp springrolls and tasty Pho. Instead we settle for our second-favourite HCMC activity – a leisurely morning at a world-class coffee shop.
Off to the Workshop:
The kids and my wife each get iced chocolates:
While I get a salted caramel coffee:
We also order some treats, including cinnamon buns:
And a pumpkin roll (not pictured).
It’s all really, really good.
We enjoy the Workshop’s ambience, checking out some small pieces of art:
And admire their many awards:
For once we just rest, and sit, and take it all in without any particular agenda.
We then take a walk around the block, enjoying some of the Tet decorations:
Then it’s time head back to the room to pack up and await our driver – the same driver from our previous trip to Cát Tiên.
There are worse places to wait than the Hotel Majestic’s lobby:
Meanwhile, Tai functions as our “man-in-the-van”, quarterbacking the arrangements via WhatsApp to ensure we get back aboard our ship. Pickup is at 10:30 am and the Moon does not depart until 2 pm, so we should have plenty of time – but the penalty for failure is high.
Our driver has gotten stuck in traffic and is running behind, but we soon get the nod from Tai – our driver is now 500 metres out. We roll out the suitcases and watch for the Ford Transit – with Tai-provided license plate information – and board with military precision. We’re on our way.
I ready myself with Google Translate in case there are any issues, but none arise – I watch on Google Maps as our driver follows the exact path to the Moon. He has to stop briefly to ask one of the security guards where to go, but then drops us just outside the port – as far as he can go. We immediately spot the tour guides running the shuttle bus from the port gates to the ship.
We’re thrilled to be reboarding. All the Silversea luxuries that had grown almost commonplace now seem fresh and exciting once more. In many ways, it feels like the start of a second cruise.
We tell Tai once we’re back aboard – and only then does he instruct the driver to carry on. Talk about service! Thrilled with how it went with Wanee, and hope to have the chance to do another Vietnam safari with them in the not-too-distant future.
Off for lunch – our daughter and I once more head to Kaiseki, while my wife and son head to La Terrazza. The crew warmly welcome us back.
We’ve even get a fresh bottle of champagne on ice:
And a towel animal!
Add all that to the many reasons why we love sailing with Silversea.
2 pm rolls around, and it’s time to leave Ho Chi Minh City and sail south along the Saigon River:
HCMC recedes into the background:
We manage to get in a bit of reading / writing / homework, then I snap some more sailaway shots:
The bridge blasts the horn at some ships that seem to think the closer we pass to one another, the better.
This one is positively acres away compared to another, which seemed to think that sailing across our bow was the best idea.
Now we know where all those swarming scooter drivers are going – they’re off to pilot ships along the Saigon River
Then time for bingo and trivia. It’s a tough one today – we correctly identify the Greek messenger god (Hermes) and what CPR stands for (Cardio Pulminary Resuscitation) but learn that Australia has two territies and that the correct way to address the Pope is “Your Holiness”. Our 18 out of 22 score is nevertheless sufficient for third place, putting us back on the podium.
Back to our verandah to watch the sun set with champagne in hand:
Then down to dinner at Atlantide. Tonight’s menu:
My wife and I both start with the cognac shrimp:
And then move on to the miso and sake glazed salmon with noodles:
With an apple tarte tartin for dessert:
All delicious – and a wonderul way to mark our return to the Moon.
We then retire for the night, to be lulled asleep by the gentle rocking of the ship – no rush to wake up tomorrow, as we will be enjoying a much-needed sea day on our way to Chan May and on to Hoi An.