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Passports Not Hallpasses

Family of Four Traveling the World, Exploring New Countries and Learning a Lot Along the Way

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Water Buffalo

We all went on a bike tour that was very fun. On the tour Dad and I rode a male water buffalo. That was cool I don’t think that everyone has rode a water buffalo. He had bristles not fur like a cow. When I rod the water buffalo his skin moved but once you got use to it it was relaxing.

Fun facts
They only use water buffalo for farming not for the meat. It only takes a few months to train a water buffalo. The water buffalo nows commands such as go forward backwards heel right and left. The water buffalo costs about 1400$.

Saigon Zoo

I would not recommend this zoo, and I love zoos.The birds had bigger cages than the monkeys. The cages for all the animals were very small and without grass. The monkeys could barely climb, and they definitely did not have enough space to run.

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Goodbye Saigon, Hello Night Train?

Because of the price being so cheap and the fact that we wanted to expand our adventures everywhere possible, we decided to take the night train from HCMC/Saigon to Da Nang for our next stop.  Scott booked us in a “soft sleeper” which was basically a tiny room with two bunk style beds.  The toilets were at either end of the train car (one end being a western toilet and one end was an eastern toilet)….

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Closing out HCMC

We had a relaxing final few days in Saigon.  We wondered out and tried some more “authentic” Vietnamese food.  One we went to try was a sort of a crispy pancake type thing filled with sprouts and pork and shrimps.  Because it was so highly rated and evidently featured on food tours, we went to Banh Xeo 46A to test this new food out.  I can safely say that it might have been the only food we ate in HCMC that we didn’t like.  The place was interesting and the open air kitchen was impressive to watch, but I’d skip on the food….

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HCMC – Presidential Palace

The presidential palace (also known as Independence Palace) is a pretty cool stop.

We stood on the roof of a presidential palace. A real palace. Next to the helicopter that the president took around. To be fair, it hasn’t been used as the Presidential Palace since the end of the Vietnam war in 1975 when the North Vietnamese tank busted through the front gates of the palace and raised their flag, but still. Bragging rights. You can do the same when you visit Ho Chi Minh for only $5USD for the entire family.

The decor hasn’t changed since the war ended, …

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