Irene suggested that we took a photo of our view from home in case we didn't always have a room with a view here and sure enough.... check out next post....

Tomorrow we have an early start for the drive north west to the border with Cambodia.

Next post will include photos of Cu Chi Tunnels visit and today's visit to the Mekong Delta.

We had been warned that some hotel rooms in Vietnam don't have windows and this was one.

Last night we had dinner in a revolving restaurant. The menu was the most extensive I have ever seen. It included animals I don't eat and those which I would - well, I would not have eaten the parts offered!!!!! Snake head spring rolls, chicken's feet with rice, turtle stew, frogs, snails and the prestigious bird's nest not to mention shark fin soup.

I settled for Spring Rolls but hadn't reckoned on ten!

The former Hotel de Ville now a government building.

After The Rain - Chaos resumed.

As there is often doggy meat on Vietnamese menus we called this little fellow Lucky.

At last someone older than me!

With 64% of the 84 million people being under 30 and everyone on our tour younger than me it was reassuring to find this lady. Estimated DOB 1869.

Ho Chi Minh Museum of History. A beautiful building with really interesting and well documented displays in Vietnamese, French and English. Obviously visiting dignitaries visit as there were photos of Messrs Bush and Clinton on display. No one asked me to pose! But by then I was in my rather saturated state.

Another government building.

A city council building.

Another western style wedding.

The Main Post Office with Uncle Ho's portrait overseeing proceedings.

Happily the Vietnamese have had the good sense to take care of the buildings built during the days of French colonial rule. Unlike, Hong Kong where there is little left of the British built buildings.

The last time I was here Kathryn and I risked life and limb to snap a traffic free photo of this beautiful Cathedral of Notre Dame and I got lucky again today.

Miss Saigon traveling by motorcycle.

I think you could say that the motorcycle is THE symbol of this city. There are hundreds of thousands of them although it feels like millions.
They paused for a couple of minutes yesterday while the drivers put on their plastic ponchos in a downpour. Unfortunately I was taking shelter from the and couldn't avail of the break in the traffic.

Lunch on arrival in Saigon.

AFTER

BEFORE

On my return from the Cu Chi Tunnels yesterday I headed out for a Walking Tour of Saigon as recommended in Lonely Planet guide. I had map in one hand and camera in t'other. Happily I had rain poncho in bag... more on that later.
First stop was Highlands Coffee shop - a local version of Starbucks where I enjoyed a very french style lunch, yum. The music being played was a Christmas mix! As I listened to "I'll be home for Christmas" I had the thought "only if I manage some of these traffic junctions first". The architecture is such an amazing mix of French, Chinese and Vietnamese modern. I visited the Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Hotel de Ville and Opera House amongst others. While at the furthest point from the hotel... the Heavens opened. I really mean Tropical Rainstorm. There I was, resplendent in black poncho, trousers rolled up above knees and all I could think of was when Louise sees these pics. she'll think "omg, why didn't Mum just jump into a taxi?" But it was one of those moments "when you're a little off balance you'll remember it forever"! The poncho leaked but precious camera remained dry!

Just in from Mekong Delta Day. Well worth the 2.5hr journey. All our buses comfy so that helps. We often manage two seats each! The 2 million people who live there farm sugarcane,fruit,coconut,fish and of course rice. The river is so large it has two daily tides - very fertile soil in delta allows for intensive farming. After the rainy season, about now, one of the tributaries REVERSES it's flow back up into the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. We will be flying over this lake from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on Tuesday.
After the drive this morning we took a junk cruise around a large island in the Delta stopping at local home industries along the way. We saw poprice (as opposed to popcorn) being made along with rice paper used to wrapping spring rolls. We then enjoyed a great lunch at a local familie's home.
Have so many pics to choose from... will now finish posting the pics from Hoi An and then get to Saigon.

Have a few mins to spare before we had out for a day on Mekong Delta.
Yesterday was amazing. Visited Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground system build by the Vietnames initially to allow them to rebel against the French. They then extended those 40kms by 220 in their offensive against the US. We got the opportunity to crawl along a small area. It was truly awesome, a rabbit warren of rooms/tunnels in which thousands of people ate, slept, cooked, delivered babies and plotted and planned their campaign. Irene managed to get a photo as I surfaced, haven't seen it yet - will post later.