Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

The TNK Tours bus dropped us off in the main backpacker area of Saigon
around Pham Ngu Lao street which was good. There are tons of hotels
in the area but I had called ahead to one so I went there, but it was
a dump so I left and went to Vin Trang Hotel which is close to the TNK
office and I got a room for $10 with AC, hot shower, TV, fridge and
wifi. The room is a little small but a good value. It doesn't have a
window to the outside which some may consider a negative but I think
it's a positive cause street noise can be very loud and very annoying.

Cu Chi tunnels: since my bus on TNK from Can Tho was good I decided to
book a half day tour to the Cu Chi tunnels through them also for $5usd
not including the 80,000vnd entrance fee. I shopped around and all the
other tour operators charge the same. The tunnels are about 70km from
the center and it takes about 1.5 hours to get there. An organized bus
tour is really the only option for getting there economically. The
tour was very good with a nice guide, a nice bus and no extra stops at
tourist traps. I've heard of other tours taking people out of the way
to "crafts markets" to buy stuff so the company can get commission. On
the way back we had the option of getting dropped off at the War
Museum which I did and walked back to the hotel from there. Definitely
recommend TNK and I'll probably use them again.

Leaving Saigon:
I booked a bus with Sinh Tourist (formerly, and still sometimes, Sinh
Cafe) to Dalat (8hrs, 130,000vnd) which left at 730am. There were only
10 people on the 45 seat bus so that was nice. No bathroom so we
stopped somewhere twice for toilets. The second stop I think was a tea
plantation but I didn't figure it out until we were leaving so it
could have been more interesting than the gift shop and restaurant
were alone.