Saigon

We decided to jump over the Mekong Delta and fly direct to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) formerly known as Saigon and still retaining airport code SGN. The flight was scheduled to leave at 9:40 am, but we were in the air and on our way by 9:38. Why wait around if we're all on board? Of course we also arrived early and the gate wasn't ready so we had to wait on the Tarmac. 

Several planes took off while we waited including this Vietnam Airlines plane like the one we were on.

Even on the Tarmac the young women wear their traditional dress.

Our hotel is hidden down this little alley about 30 meters in, under the number 54. It's a five story building but is not visible from the street at all. It's in that dark hole behind the woman walking. Those balconies in front are not part of the hotel which is quite comfortable and has a lift! Folks sit in the alley all day long. There's even a tiny convenience store tucked inside.

And the alley doubles as a parking lot for motorbikes. There are even motorbikes parked in the living rooms of the people who reside here. And I don't mean one - no, I mean 10!

There are old leftover colonial buildings. This one, on a corner, hides an srt deco wrought iron stairway. 

Saigon is motorbike city. Streets in the city often specialize in some product or service  Ours is motorcycle repair alley, it would seem. With this many motorbikes there's no wonder. We are learning how to cross the street while the motorbikes swirl around us. We may be getting just a little too confident!

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We stopped in at a bakery where we found these endearing creatures.

And ate lunch at a specialty Pho (soup) restaurant whose menu described how the owner had developed a way of creating rice paper rolls in many colours using fruits and vegetables. 

On the street women haul around these heavy burdens as they make a living selling foodstuffs.

On our walk last night we saw this iconic building, the Bitexco Financial Tower. It is meant to represent a lotus bud.

On the same walk we came across this itinerant healer dong a cupping session on an ailing man. All those glass cups on his back are attached by suction. When removed they leave a large round hickey.

We went to the Fine Art Museum today, since we really needed to be tourists. This was one of my favourite paintings -- a paper mâché horse,

The museum is in an elegant old French colonial building with this lovely wrought iron stair rail and stained glass windows. 

And this sadly non-functioning lift.

After our wander through the museum we stopped for coffee at the outdoor "Refresher" area on the museum grounds. Our coffees were different local brews but both very tasty, although our patience is tried as we wait for the brew to seep through the drip pots. 

And on our way to lunch we walked by a very typical street scene for Saigon - a restaurant and motorbike parking on the sidewalk. It is remarkable how it seems the locals treat a sidewalk not as a sidewalk but as an opportunity to grab some space. All along the streets you see sidewalks full of motorbikes with a guard to watch them (for a fee), as well as restaurant space, vegetable sellers and souvenir vendors. And of course, itinerant healers. We do a lot of our sidewalk navigating in the street.

And if you were wondering what I'm doing when I'm not out avoiding motorbikes, this is what I was working on this morning. It's my single knitting project for the trip. I'm nearing the end of it although there are still 35 rows to go, but each row takes an hour more or less, and four rows a day are my max, usually. I'm wishing I could find a yarn street like all those other streets selling single goods (shoe street is near our hotel too) because I need a 2.5 mm crochet hook to complete this baby. The longest row I've knit had over 1800 sts on it. When finished this should cover a 4 foot table, with overhang. It's way bigger than it looks. 

Tomorrow we are actually taking a tour of the delta we flew away from yesterday.  It's not far and the tour is cheap ($11.00 each). More photographs forthcoming then.