Friday 14th Ho Chi Minh City Saigon
We had filled in a form for breakfast at 9am but all they
had done was leave it at reception, so we had to collect it and take it into
the kitchen, at which time the fellow started cooking it. This gave us time to
meet our fellow guests – and this is a large part of why we stay in these
backpackerish sort of places. Janine’s
neighbour was a young Belgian who was taking his gap year after studying a weird
combination of law, economics and accounting (and what a disparate set of
stereotypes!!) He had been working in Australia and we asked what he did, jobs
being so hard to find. He said he had been a dogwalker in Sydney, working for a
New Zealand lady who had been the doyenne of dogwalkers. We both leaped to the
same conclusion that this is the industry we need to get into in order to
employ all our children. My much older neighbour was a semi-retired engineer
who travelled the world as a troubleshooter on recalcitrant projects, bummed
around generally and dropped in on his wife in England for a month a year! And
they got to meet us!!
I then found myself being frog marched off through the
streams of scooters and cars, which were as unruly as expected. Chaotic springs
to mind. The best advice is to walk out boldly and let them miss you, which
they seem to do quite successfully. Saigon is studded with relics of its French
past, including French bakeries, which offer an extremely tempting line of
fare. We succumbed to coffee cups, flaky pork pie, mango chicken roll, and a
couple of delicacies that defy description. It was very cheap and very
tasty. We are close to the huge local
markets full of clothing and souvenirs.
Hotel de Ville
The old and the new
Tran Hung Dao considered to be the greatest military tactician in history. He led the Dai Viet armies which repelled three major invasions by Kublai Khan's very powerful Mongol invaders during the 1200's. 
We made it to the river where we sat and watched the boats
shooting downstream on a stiff current, including some heavily laden barges and
a deceptively large container ship. We popped into the old colonial post office,
where Janine dashed in to assist a woman who suddenly folded to the floor in a
dead faint (it’s very hot & humid) and was busy trying to roll her into the
recovery position when a woman who seemed to know her pushed her into a seated
posture. Then along came a man who picked her up bodily and sat her on an
adjacent bench. Hardly recommended first aid but apparently all 3, victim and
rescuers, are French doctors. Aaaahh les Francaises.
Notre Dame Cathedral
Post office facade
Interior
We spent some time in the War Remnant Museum. A strange name
for a strange place. Its mission is to collect and analyse information
demonstrating war crimes committed (by the American invaders, their allies and
the puppet regime in S Vietnam) against the patriotic freedom fighters. There
was a heap of US weaponry, including big tanks, fighter bombers and artillery
pieces, as well as small arms etc. A lot of photographs showing US soldiers
standing next to dead bodies . . but who killed them?
There are some pretty parks.
Shower, rest, skype, dinner etc. We ate at the same
restaurant, and noticed that they were also providing all the food for the 3 storey
restaurant across the street. Picked up some brochures about the delta and
retired.
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