Barcelona, London, Saigon
Hola amigos!
This is going to be my last post. I’m pretty gutted to be headed back (I’m about to board my final flight to Sydney shortly), but my wallet and my waistline will be happy. Straight back to work when I land, which is less than ideal.
So after Budapest, I flew to Barcelona where I had 4 nights. Again, the decision to go there was dictated by what flights I could get for the right price and the right time. Budapest is a bit of a tricky place to get to and from. But I had never been to Spain and it all worked, so that’s where I went!
I have to say, I’ve really killed the hotel/accommodation game this trip. Other than the place in Vienna (which was absolutely fine and new and cheap, but no frills), everywhere I have stayed has been fab. The hotel in Barcelona was new and very central in a cool neighbourhood. It also had a rooftop pool, daily activities in the lounge (I.e. local craft beer tasting) and had few bowls of candy (lollies) in the lobby. The room was small-ish, but very modern (I.e. everything could be connected to my phone with Bluetooth, Netflix on the tv, etc). Most days I came back to the hotel around 3pm and then went up to the pool for a few hours for a drink and relax and then would get in on the free booze/activity before dinner. It was mostly Americans at my hotel. Couldn’t get over how many Americans were there (and the lack of any other nationalities).
Barcelona is a very cool place. Tapas and wine bars everywhere. Not to mention really impressive architecture and lots to do an see. I did all the “must dos”. Gaudi’s sagrada familia and casa Batllo, the old gothic quarter, a tapas and wine tour, etc. I though La Sagrada Familia was ugly af on the outside, but inside was just spectacular. It was too gaudy (ha ha) outside. But inside was more minimalist and meant to look like a forest, which was cool. Casa Batllo was beautiful, and I really liked it, however unfortunately the experience was somewhat ruined by the excessive number of tourists trying to take the perfect selfie. Because the building’s architecture is so cool, half the people in the house were clearly just there to get cool Instagram shots. To each his own, but the problem was they get in the way and hold everyone else up. The stairs and hallways are narrow and you end up with bottlenecks everywhere because some moron is trying to get the perfect selfie. Anyway, I think they should say no photos in that one! I was just walking straight through people’s photos, or awkwardly standing in their shot pretending to look at something, just to make a point. So that was fun.
Since I’ve been eating and drinking so much, I also went to some gym classes while here. I did two spin classes at a place called Love Cycle. Spin was a laugh, as it was all in Spanish (obviously). I’ve done enough spin classes to know what to do, and it was all the same as what I’ve done before, but at points she turned all the lights off and just yelled in Spanish. So I had no idea during those bits. I will say it was a good way to pick up a bit of Spanish. The numbers 8 to 1 are now thoroughly burned into my brain (she would count down, ocho, siete, seis, etc). Also, it turns out “push up” is “push up” in Spanish, and “aye yi yi” is also self explanatory. Up (“arriba”) and down (“abajo”) are also burned into my brain. Vamos!
Speaking of eating and drinking, on my second night I did a tapas and wine tour in the Gothic Quarter and El Born areas of the city. It was a group of about 10 of us - all Americans and me. One of the guys from California was saying that flights are so cheap to Spain from LA that it was cheaper for them to do a week in Barcelona than it was to go to Mexico. So I guess that explains why 90% of the tourists here are American. There was one other “Canadian” in the group, but she had been living in the US for 40 years. She was the weirdo of the bunch - she didn’t eat or drink anything. Everything they bought out she would turn her nose up at. “I’ve had that before, I didn’t like it”. The salted fish I could kind of understand, but she had the same response to cider, vermouth, tuna, pretty much everything. Why go on a food and drink tour if you aren’t going to eat or drink anything?! Anyway, I just made sure I found a seat away from her and it was quite a fun night. We went to four places and tried all the local specialities. I absolutely loved the Spanish tortilla (egg, potato, onion and garlic) as well as the Vermouth. I had no idea Vermouth could be so tasty. It was nothing like the paint thinner like substance I was used to. My go to tapas for the rest of the trip were tomato bread and Spanish omelet.
Other than eating and drinking I did a lot of walking around and exploring. I went to the beach one day, which is only a few kilometres from where I was staying, so I ended up running there, and then going for a swim after to cool down. Apparently the whole beach front area is new-ish (in relative terms). It was man made for the 1992 olympics. So all the sand was brought in and the whole development around it was to pretty up Barcelona for the world stage. It was a typical Mediterranean beach - pebbly when you got in the water. But the temperature was perfect. I’ve been so lucky with the weather. I also went to the Picasso museum which was interesting, as he is from Barcelona. Didn’t have many of his famous works, but it took you through his life and history though his work. I really like Picasso art, so I enjoyed it.
So on a whole, Barcelona was great. But when it was time to go, I was ready. There was only so much tomato bread and Spanish omelet I could eat. After that my last (real) stop was London for three nights. I stayed with my friends Gill and Josh, and mostly just visited with a number of friends I have there. When I landed at Heathrow the pilot declared it was “a nice day here in London....10 degrees and not completely cloudy”. Fab. To be fair, although it was cool, I didn’t really get any rain and it made for a decent temperature to walk around.
The first night Gill and I did a Jack the Ripper walking tour. I had just read a book about it, and the tour was cheap, so we thought it would be something to do that wasn’t just eating and drinking. It was interesting to see all the spots mentioned in the book and visualise the environment. We didn’t stay the two full hours as about 75 minutes in it started to pour rain and was freezing (this was the only rain I got - of course when we were on a walking tour). So we dropped off the back and went for dinner.
Friday I went to spin class again which was in English this time. So that was an improvement. Otherwise, the day was spent catching up with a number of different friends. Ended up drinking from about 12pm to 12am, with various friends in various locations. Was really nice to see everyone - mostly people I used to work with in Aus.
My last full day was spent living the high life. We were a bit slow moving in the morning, but after breakfast, Gill and I went to Knightsbridge to do some shopping. I wanted to treat myself to some nice shoes, so we went to all the high end shops. We also went to Harrods and somehow ended up at the champagne bar. It was a lovely spot actually, and we had a really luxurious afternoon. Just the way you want to finish a holiday - on a high!
We went for a drink at the four seasons and then 4 of us went to Gordon Ramsey’s Lucky Cat restaurant which is his most recent opening. Gill and Josh went a few months ago, and really enjoyed it, so they were keen to go back. It was really excellent. The food (Asian fusion) was all so tasty. It wasn’t excessively priced either, which was good. Gill text me the following day saying that Gordon Ramsey was apparently at the restaurant the following night, so we just missed him!
I had to be up at 4:30am for my flight back. Of course I couldn’t sleep and ended up getting about 3 hours. I felt awful - tired and a bit hungover and my stomach wasn’t that happy with me for all the food and drink. However, I just popped a sleeping pill when on the plane and ended up getting about 8 hours on the flight to Ho Chi Minh, so when I landed there, I felt 1000x better.
My flight landed an hour early, which was a problem because it was already scheduled to arrive at 6:30am. The war remnants museum opened at 7:30, so my plan was to go straight there. However we were super early and then my visa on arrival took no time at all, so I was literally in central Ho Chi Minh at 6:30am. So, I came up with a plan - just googled “nicest hotel in Saigon” and went there. Walked right in, freshened up in the bathroom, and then sat in the lounge and ordered a cup of tea (and used their free wifi). No questions asked about the fact that I loitered around there for an hour and a half. I suspect that may not have been the case if I was a local.....
Anyway, I visited the war remnants museum first, which I had been to before, back in 2010 when I was last here. Very interesting, but emotional stuff. Lots of photographs and stories and weapons. Although it struck me that the exhibit was very one sided, that everything was the Americans fault. Now, Im not saying they weren’t largely responsible and that they didn’t commit terrible atrocities, but the museum fails to mention the fact that the North Vietnamese Army/Viet Cong/communists were invading the south and were ruthlessly murdering people as well. Very much a propaganda feel to the place. However, with that said, it’s interesting to get the other side of the story, given most of what I have learnt has a western spin.
I felt like I had the same view when I was last here nine years ago, so I went back to my blog from then (yes, I’ve been doing this for over 9 years!) and it turns out my view was pretty much identical! Should have just copied and pasted the below:
In the afternoon we went to the war remnants museum; once again, more anti American propaganda. Now, I am in no way condoning the US' role and actions during the Vietnam war (they made a lot of bad decisions and did a lot of horrible stuff) however this museum was completely one sided; as if the Vietnamese didn't do anything wrong themselves
(As an aside rereading that blog was a laugh.... it’s obvious I was at the end of a long trip and just over everything. Haha. If anyone is really really bored, here it is https://siobhanmhughes.blogspot.com/2010/12/part-11-vietnam-days-67-74.html)
Anyway, I went for a 2.5 hour massage after, which was the perfect way to fight the fatigue as I just spent the whole time drifting in and out of sleep. Felt much improved after that, which was a good thing because I had a motorbike food tour booked around the city. I had to do a day time one because my flight out is tonight (I think the night time one would be even better), but the day time one was really good. It was such a fun way to see a lot of the city and try a bunch of local foods I wouldn’t otherwise have tried. We did 5 stops, and tasted a variety of dishes I knew and things I had never tried. The Bahn Xeo was my fav, which is like a pancake with meat in it, that you wrap in lettuce wraps. Riding around on the back of a motorbike was good fun as well as it really gives you a different perspective. My guide said there are 8.5 million motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh City alone. It’s organised chaos! At least a handful of times I thought she was going to crash into someone/someone was going to crash into us. But no, I made it back to the airport in one piece! I really need to come back to Vietnam - I think I would enjoy it more now when it’s not 70 days into a trip and I have a bit more $$ to live it up!
Anyway, that’s about it then! I’m seriously struggling to keep my eyes open, so I should be able to sleep on the flight! Bye for now šš»šš»šš»šš»
This is going to be my last post. I’m pretty gutted to be headed back (I’m about to board my final flight to Sydney shortly), but my wallet and my waistline will be happy. Straight back to work when I land, which is less than ideal.
So after Budapest, I flew to Barcelona where I had 4 nights. Again, the decision to go there was dictated by what flights I could get for the right price and the right time. Budapest is a bit of a tricky place to get to and from. But I had never been to Spain and it all worked, so that’s where I went!
I have to say, I’ve really killed the hotel/accommodation game this trip. Other than the place in Vienna (which was absolutely fine and new and cheap, but no frills), everywhere I have stayed has been fab. The hotel in Barcelona was new and very central in a cool neighbourhood. It also had a rooftop pool, daily activities in the lounge (I.e. local craft beer tasting) and had few bowls of candy (lollies) in the lobby. The room was small-ish, but very modern (I.e. everything could be connected to my phone with Bluetooth, Netflix on the tv, etc). Most days I came back to the hotel around 3pm and then went up to the pool for a few hours for a drink and relax and then would get in on the free booze/activity before dinner. It was mostly Americans at my hotel. Couldn’t get over how many Americans were there (and the lack of any other nationalities).
Barcelona is a very cool place. Tapas and wine bars everywhere. Not to mention really impressive architecture and lots to do an see. I did all the “must dos”. Gaudi’s sagrada familia and casa Batllo, the old gothic quarter, a tapas and wine tour, etc. I though La Sagrada Familia was ugly af on the outside, but inside was just spectacular. It was too gaudy (ha ha) outside. But inside was more minimalist and meant to look like a forest, which was cool. Casa Batllo was beautiful, and I really liked it, however unfortunately the experience was somewhat ruined by the excessive number of tourists trying to take the perfect selfie. Because the building’s architecture is so cool, half the people in the house were clearly just there to get cool Instagram shots. To each his own, but the problem was they get in the way and hold everyone else up. The stairs and hallways are narrow and you end up with bottlenecks everywhere because some moron is trying to get the perfect selfie. Anyway, I think they should say no photos in that one! I was just walking straight through people’s photos, or awkwardly standing in their shot pretending to look at something, just to make a point. So that was fun.
Since I’ve been eating and drinking so much, I also went to some gym classes while here. I did two spin classes at a place called Love Cycle. Spin was a laugh, as it was all in Spanish (obviously). I’ve done enough spin classes to know what to do, and it was all the same as what I’ve done before, but at points she turned all the lights off and just yelled in Spanish. So I had no idea during those bits. I will say it was a good way to pick up a bit of Spanish. The numbers 8 to 1 are now thoroughly burned into my brain (she would count down, ocho, siete, seis, etc). Also, it turns out “push up” is “push up” in Spanish, and “aye yi yi” is also self explanatory. Up (“arriba”) and down (“abajo”) are also burned into my brain. Vamos!
Speaking of eating and drinking, on my second night I did a tapas and wine tour in the Gothic Quarter and El Born areas of the city. It was a group of about 10 of us - all Americans and me. One of the guys from California was saying that flights are so cheap to Spain from LA that it was cheaper for them to do a week in Barcelona than it was to go to Mexico. So I guess that explains why 90% of the tourists here are American. There was one other “Canadian” in the group, but she had been living in the US for 40 years. She was the weirdo of the bunch - she didn’t eat or drink anything. Everything they bought out she would turn her nose up at. “I’ve had that before, I didn’t like it”. The salted fish I could kind of understand, but she had the same response to cider, vermouth, tuna, pretty much everything. Why go on a food and drink tour if you aren’t going to eat or drink anything?! Anyway, I just made sure I found a seat away from her and it was quite a fun night. We went to four places and tried all the local specialities. I absolutely loved the Spanish tortilla (egg, potato, onion and garlic) as well as the Vermouth. I had no idea Vermouth could be so tasty. It was nothing like the paint thinner like substance I was used to. My go to tapas for the rest of the trip were tomato bread and Spanish omelet.
Other than eating and drinking I did a lot of walking around and exploring. I went to the beach one day, which is only a few kilometres from where I was staying, so I ended up running there, and then going for a swim after to cool down. Apparently the whole beach front area is new-ish (in relative terms). It was man made for the 1992 olympics. So all the sand was brought in and the whole development around it was to pretty up Barcelona for the world stage. It was a typical Mediterranean beach - pebbly when you got in the water. But the temperature was perfect. I’ve been so lucky with the weather. I also went to the Picasso museum which was interesting, as he is from Barcelona. Didn’t have many of his famous works, but it took you through his life and history though his work. I really like Picasso art, so I enjoyed it.
So on a whole, Barcelona was great. But when it was time to go, I was ready. There was only so much tomato bread and Spanish omelet I could eat. After that my last (real) stop was London for three nights. I stayed with my friends Gill and Josh, and mostly just visited with a number of friends I have there. When I landed at Heathrow the pilot declared it was “a nice day here in London....10 degrees and not completely cloudy”. Fab. To be fair, although it was cool, I didn’t really get any rain and it made for a decent temperature to walk around.
The first night Gill and I did a Jack the Ripper walking tour. I had just read a book about it, and the tour was cheap, so we thought it would be something to do that wasn’t just eating and drinking. It was interesting to see all the spots mentioned in the book and visualise the environment. We didn’t stay the two full hours as about 75 minutes in it started to pour rain and was freezing (this was the only rain I got - of course when we were on a walking tour). So we dropped off the back and went for dinner.
Friday I went to spin class again which was in English this time. So that was an improvement. Otherwise, the day was spent catching up with a number of different friends. Ended up drinking from about 12pm to 12am, with various friends in various locations. Was really nice to see everyone - mostly people I used to work with in Aus.
My last full day was spent living the high life. We were a bit slow moving in the morning, but after breakfast, Gill and I went to Knightsbridge to do some shopping. I wanted to treat myself to some nice shoes, so we went to all the high end shops. We also went to Harrods and somehow ended up at the champagne bar. It was a lovely spot actually, and we had a really luxurious afternoon. Just the way you want to finish a holiday - on a high!
We went for a drink at the four seasons and then 4 of us went to Gordon Ramsey’s Lucky Cat restaurant which is his most recent opening. Gill and Josh went a few months ago, and really enjoyed it, so they were keen to go back. It was really excellent. The food (Asian fusion) was all so tasty. It wasn’t excessively priced either, which was good. Gill text me the following day saying that Gordon Ramsey was apparently at the restaurant the following night, so we just missed him!
I had to be up at 4:30am for my flight back. Of course I couldn’t sleep and ended up getting about 3 hours. I felt awful - tired and a bit hungover and my stomach wasn’t that happy with me for all the food and drink. However, I just popped a sleeping pill when on the plane and ended up getting about 8 hours on the flight to Ho Chi Minh, so when I landed there, I felt 1000x better.
My flight landed an hour early, which was a problem because it was already scheduled to arrive at 6:30am. The war remnants museum opened at 7:30, so my plan was to go straight there. However we were super early and then my visa on arrival took no time at all, so I was literally in central Ho Chi Minh at 6:30am. So, I came up with a plan - just googled “nicest hotel in Saigon” and went there. Walked right in, freshened up in the bathroom, and then sat in the lounge and ordered a cup of tea (and used their free wifi). No questions asked about the fact that I loitered around there for an hour and a half. I suspect that may not have been the case if I was a local.....
Anyway, I visited the war remnants museum first, which I had been to before, back in 2010 when I was last here. Very interesting, but emotional stuff. Lots of photographs and stories and weapons. Although it struck me that the exhibit was very one sided, that everything was the Americans fault. Now, Im not saying they weren’t largely responsible and that they didn’t commit terrible atrocities, but the museum fails to mention the fact that the North Vietnamese Army/Viet Cong/communists were invading the south and were ruthlessly murdering people as well. Very much a propaganda feel to the place. However, with that said, it’s interesting to get the other side of the story, given most of what I have learnt has a western spin.
I felt like I had the same view when I was last here nine years ago, so I went back to my blog from then (yes, I’ve been doing this for over 9 years!) and it turns out my view was pretty much identical! Should have just copied and pasted the below:
In the afternoon we went to the war remnants museum; once again, more anti American propaganda. Now, I am in no way condoning the US' role and actions during the Vietnam war (they made a lot of bad decisions and did a lot of horrible stuff) however this museum was completely one sided; as if the Vietnamese didn't do anything wrong themselves
(As an aside rereading that blog was a laugh.... it’s obvious I was at the end of a long trip and just over everything. Haha. If anyone is really really bored, here it is https://siobhanmhughes.blogspot.com/2010/12/part-11-vietnam-days-67-74.html)
Anyway, I went for a 2.5 hour massage after, which was the perfect way to fight the fatigue as I just spent the whole time drifting in and out of sleep. Felt much improved after that, which was a good thing because I had a motorbike food tour booked around the city. I had to do a day time one because my flight out is tonight (I think the night time one would be even better), but the day time one was really good. It was such a fun way to see a lot of the city and try a bunch of local foods I wouldn’t otherwise have tried. We did 5 stops, and tasted a variety of dishes I knew and things I had never tried. The Bahn Xeo was my fav, which is like a pancake with meat in it, that you wrap in lettuce wraps. Riding around on the back of a motorbike was good fun as well as it really gives you a different perspective. My guide said there are 8.5 million motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh City alone. It’s organised chaos! At least a handful of times I thought she was going to crash into someone/someone was going to crash into us. But no, I made it back to the airport in one piece! I really need to come back to Vietnam - I think I would enjoy it more now when it’s not 70 days into a trip and I have a bit more $$ to live it up!
Anyway, that’s about it then! I’m seriously struggling to keep my eyes open, so I should be able to sleep on the flight! Bye for now šš»šš»šš»šš»
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