Early start this am for 8 hour trip to Saigon. We go by coach to Saigon-a 2hr journey-then have 4 hours free time before the return trip.
This is a fascinating country with lots of similarities to rural China. We saw water buffalo paddy fields and lots of one man businesses.
Saigon itself is fascinating. We went to the ex Presidential palace which is very elegant and now known as Reunification Hall and was the location of the iconic photo of the US tank breaking through the gates. There are also old tanks etc in the grounds which are very interesting. We walked next to the War Remnants Museum which was too gory for my taste but the men enjoyed it.
We took a breather in the Park to eat our sandwich and drink some water. The hawkers are very persistent but not unpleasant. The traffic is horrendous and it takes iron nerve and considerable time to cross each road. They say there are 11,000,000 people in the city and 7,000,000 motorbikes. They carry livestock furniture whole families and even two car windscreens at a time.
We saw a guy carrying a large tree in an enormous pot on his motorbike. Quite worried as the adults always wear helmets( legislation ) and the children don't.
We walked to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum which was really interesting with all of Saigon life from the really early days, through the war to modern times. Even a number of old French card like Maigret
Lovely to get back to the ship for afternoon tea, a bath and 40 winks. A wonderful but tiring day.
Enjoyable Tropical themed evening but sadly too windy on deck for the party and transferring it to the Pacific Lounge lost its appeal somewhat.