…….as Hanoi, but so far we’re enjoying it more!  Crossing the street continues to be a challenge but it’s becoming kind of fun because those motorcyclists, in particular, are unbelievably good at just swerving past you and you’re left feeling amazed that you are still standing.   We’ve also figured out where it’s best to cross, ie. not on a corner especially if there’s eight corners, and also just to follow some Vietnamese people because, of course, they’ve got it down pat.  Even when you are with local people, or lagging behind them, you’ve got to be using 150% of your senses because those motos come out of nowhere and you never know when someone’s high heel might slip and step on the gas!   So much for that soapbox, let’s see what else is knew?

We’ve upped our accommodation standard for the next couple of nights and are staying in the heart of Saigon.  Today we were tourists and followed Jim around with his map……….he was in his ‘glee’ and Marilyn and I just strolled behind and would have been oblivious if we had gotten lost, which we did not.  He was a great tour guide on our walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City and I’ll tell you about a few of the sites we visited.

First there was the Notre Dame Cathedral(built between 1877 and 1883) which is quite an impressive church on the outside but we couldn’t go in because it was closed…….not sure why.  From there we went to the Post Office which is from Saigon’s French era and it is quite the structure and is still a working post office today.  It’s absolutely huge and of course it’s very different now than it was in it’s heyday because now it also houses gift shops, Internet cafes, ATM’s and a very large area which focuses on daily mail delivery locally, nationally and of course internationally.

Our last big tourist attraction was the Reunification Palace which was built in1966.  Needless to say, there were many tourists from many countries and I think it’s the place where I have heard American accents the most since the beginning of our trip.  I found this place a little sad actually because of course that’s the war from my adolescence/early adulthood so when listening to the guides it brought back a lot of memories.  The building has been left the same since April 30, 1975 when communist tanks in Saigon crashed through the gates surrendering to the north.  Apparently the building has been left  exactly the same.  On a more positive note it also brought back many musical memories from the Woodstock era……..Joan Baez, Springsteen, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s…..OHIO…..The music from Forest Gump etc.   This evening, over pre-dinner cocktails we reminisced on our balcony and thank God for the people of Saigon we did not break out into song.

Just a quick note to end this piece before we head off to bed.   On this trip Jim is the photographer and I’m the blogger so today I had a chance to look at some of the pictures he’s taken.   Although there are lots of good ones I am sure glad that I couldn’t figure out how to attach them to the blog because you might have wondered if I was OK, and I am.    But in all of the pictures that I’m in……….. I am either totally red faced from the three mile walk we just finished, and the heat, or I look like I just had a bucket of water thrown over me.   At least when we show some of them to you in person I will be back to my old self in the Canadian winter or spring, depending on mother nature.  Tomorrow is another exciting day and if there’s enough time at the end of it, and if I’m not too pooped, I’ll be in touch.  Hope those spring storms in Canada are manageable and don’t get you down……….just remember this heat, day after day, is also hard to take but we ‘re doing our best!