I think I got out of bed at the wrong side this morning, or at least I hope I did, otherwise it was just a really rubbish day!
8am start, greasy omelette for breakfast and walk to the bus to catch a dragon boat for a trip down the Perfume River. Shortly after 8.30am, a menu was thrust into our hands for us to choose our lunch, a fairly uninspiring choice and no drinks (?!!) It was only after we’d ordered that I had a niggle that I’d read on the information sheet about the trip that the lunch was supposed to be included, I assumed I had got a couple of trips mixed up and I had too much of a headache to bother to ask, surely if they’ve given us menus then it wasn’t the trip with free lunch.
We stopped off at ‘Garden House’, literally a house with a few trees in the garden, 20,000VND per person entrance fee (this was the first payment of what turned out to be an expensive day!). The guide told some story about the house belonging to a father-in-law of a king at some point and emphasised the gender inequality that existed at that time as if we’d never come across gender inequality before, he kept repeating himself I think in order to get some sort of shocked reaction at the fact that men were allowed anywhere in the house but women were only allowed on one side…he never got a reaction so we went for a wander round the little garden and then got back on the boat.
Lunch was served at 11.15am!!! Dishes of rice, veg and meat were laid out on tables…wait a minute…this is a buffet lunch…the free one that
I thought I’d read about, we questioned it and was told that the menu that was brought round was for ‘extra food’, we hadn’t been told that although it seemed everyone else had as no one else had extra, although a Korean couple that had been sitting next to us had tried to order something but they didn’t have what they wanted. So, we’d paid extra for a tiny plate of greasy noodles that we didn’t want or need…great! After a bit of an argument with the boat staff (which upset me further) we got half of our money back..they said they didn’t have any more money because they’d been to the market to buy our noodles so there was no money left, I laughed at this excuse and clearly told them that they were lying, there was no way that they had spent 100,000vnd on 2 crappy plates of crappy noodles!! Anyway, deep breaths Heather, deep breaths…
There were 3 tombs to see, each costing 80,000vnd per person! We chose the one the guide said was the best and decided we’d just sit around while the others explored the other 2, we know what tombs are like and it was so hot that it just wasn’t worth the cost.
The first tomb was the one we’d paid to go see, after the 20 minute ramble from the guide, we had about half an hour to explore, just enough time to wander to the end of the complex and back, not enough time to actually take it all in.
We waited for the rest of the group to tour the 2nd tomb by having a drink from one of the little cafes outside, the women didn’t tell me the price when I asked and I stupidly assumed it was because she didn’t speak English… her son arrived as we were leaving and we realised why she hadn’t told us the price before we’d opened our drinks! RIP OFF! England prices for canned drinks, when we told him that it was very bad to do that, he just laughed..AARGH! [We're not usually silly enough to get something without knowing the price, it was just a really bad day!]
The stalls outside the 3rd tomb were wanting 50,000vnd (about £1.50) for a cornetto, again, maybe in England but not in Vietnam where we’ve had the same for 10,000vnd before now. We settled for an expensive but not too outrageously priced bottle of water instead.
The main part of the trip finally arrived, the Citadel, which was actually scheduled to happen at the beginning of the day but it didn’t, instead it was left until the end so we had a whole HALF AN HOUR for it (after a 105,000vnd per person entrance fee)! Luckily it was tiny so we didn’t miss out too much, although we would have probably stayed a bit longer we thought the free ride back to the hotel was worth more (the guide had given us the option of staying longer if we wished but we’d have to make our own way back!)
All this in 36 degree heat – it was 32 degrees in the shade.
Overall it was a hot, tiring day where I felt like I was being ripped off all the time. Not long enough spent on the part that we actually wanted to see, not enough explanation about anything and generally not a lot. And to top it all off, just as things were looking up as we got offered a smoothie on our return to the hotel…it never arrived!!
Thankfully, we had an AMAZING dinner at Risotto Restaurant in the evening and once again, all was good with the world! 
