Saigon

I read quite a few forum articles on Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as I prefer to call it, before we set off on the trip, but nothing, not anything could prepare you for the chaos that is Saigon traffic. We were transferred to the hotel during the rush hour and were met with wall to wall motorcycles with up to four people on board. There are apparently no rules and driving on the pavement is standard and stopping at traffic lights optional.
There are various recommendations for crossing the road but essentially once started you must never stop, the motorcycles will swerve round you as long as you continue in motion, Ok in theory but putting it to the test is unnerving.

A trip to the Behn Trahn market was also eventful with all the sellers trying to get your attention, but I did manage to haggle a real leather belt for $7 which was probably too much but I was happy enough.

The city itself varies between good areas and bad areas and on the city tour we had a guide called Yu and it took me back to the old joke ‘Hey you’—‘How you know my name’. For those of you who can remember the iconic photos of the American withdrawal from Saigon in the early seventies it was like déjà vu seeing the building now called the Palace of reunification and the plinth on the roof where helicopters were evacuating the last to leave.

The food here is excellent and we managed to find a Beerhaus called Hoa Vien which I had seen on the net, but it was packed with locals who apparently love their beer.
We had a really good trip to the Mekong Delta even though it took a four hour round trip in a van, jumped onto a Sampan and visited the floating market and places where they make all kinds of sweet stuff with rice and coconuts. The restaurant we called in to for lunch was raised on stilts over the river and the starter was Elephant Ear Fish which was wrapped in rice paper with cucumber and mint very similar to Peking Duck style.

I also found another Beerhaus called the Lion Brewery which was decked out like a Munich beer hall, the beer was very good, even Sheila liked it.