We were trapped in the basement. I had a bag over my head. Only one of us was free to move about while the other three were chained up. The heavy door to the dimly lit room burst open and we all faced against the wall. A menacing voice talked into our ears and sharp nails scratched down my back. We weren’t sure if the hooded figure was still in the room, but our teammate needed to free us by finding the combination to the locks on our chains.
This was my first Escape Room experience and it was brilliant! For the others, it wasn’t their first rodeo, but all agreed that this was the best Escape Room experience they had ever had. We shat ourselves.
The clues were incredibly cryptic and we were trapped in two small rooms of the basement for two intense hours. We had a bit of support via a walkie talkie, by someone who “had managed to escape and survive”. We also had to break the spell twice to use up the two clues we were allowed to request by giving a time-out gesture to the camera watching us.
A highlight was when the killer forced me and my friend into a cupboard. He’s a big guy but was whimpering like a puppy in the corner. His wife had panicked and quickly scampered into the cupboard to join us, which was then locked. It was the second time that our fourth teammate was left to fend for herself as creepy sound effects came from all directions! We didn’t make it out of the Escape Room in the end, but were all possibly in need of a bum gun.
In total contrast to that Saturday night adventure, I was treated to a bike tour of Ho Chi Minh City by my friends who have been teaching there for several years and have become pretty knowledgeable about the area. It was a wonderful opportunity to get a proper feel of the city. They also recommended bussing it to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, which would be my next destination.
Another treat was trying some vegan Vietnamese food called Com Chay. You point to as many trays of edibles as you like and food gets piled onto a plate with rice. There were sweet things, bean bits, tofu in different forms, and vegetables that had such unique flavours with all the different spices and sauces used. Loved it.
I felt like a first-class plane passenger on a world class bus, which was air-conditioned, had large comfortable seats that could easily be slept in, and enough legroom to satisfy a rugby player. The only downside is that one of the passengers on the 8-seater bus coughed and sneezed the whole journey there. There was no escape from that either. It will be really unfair if I get sick again!
Featured photo courtesy of Real Escape Room Sài Gòn
Next: Vietnam #16 – Can Tho: The Land of Plenty
Previously: Vietnam #14 – Marble & Stone (Fish)
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