My Birthday!!

We were up very early for our flight to Vietnam. We were lucky though as our flight had changed times to our benefit!! We got a taxi to KL Sentral (the central train station) and then the airbus to the airport. The airport was very confusing, few signs and check in desks all over the place!! The plane was tiny in comparison to the A380 that we flew on from Sydney to Singapore! The flight was only short and went quickly. We flew over Kuala Lumpur and could see the city well, including the Petronas twin towers.
Once in Vietnam it took a while getting through the airport because our visa took ages to process! We had barely walked through customs and we were already being harassed by different companies offering taxis, hotels and currency exchange! We agreed to a taxi with one of the companies and were so glad that we had once we got outside! It was like attending a film premiere, there were so many people crowded around the doors, getting excited as they do! We couldn't see past them and followed our taxi lady through the crowds to where the taxis were waiting! It was a relief to be out of there!
Then came the journey to the hostel! We had heard that Ho Chi Minh was busy, but we had completely underestimated the meaning of busy!! We have never seen traffic like it! There were millions and millions of bikes, everywhere, the road, the wrong side of the road, the pavement..wherever they fancied really! I couldn't tell you what side of the road they drive on here, because they drive/ride where they want!
The taxi dropped us at the hostel and we had our first experience of crossing the road! We survived and found our hostel down a small alley away from the hustle and bustle of the street. The lady running the hostel was so friendly and welcoming! We have a lovely room, with cable tv which Mark was happy about as he can catch up on football! We chilled for a bit before heading out to explore! We just walked around to get a feel for the place, and to master how to cross the road without being squashed! We followed a local the first time but she wasn't too confident either! You need eyes in the back of your head because bikes are coming from all directions..pavement included! We went to the big Ben Thanh market which was packed full of stalls. The people are keen to sell and all nag you as you walk around! There is an area selling food, including pigs tails, but the smell is so bad it is enough to put you off food all together! We wandered around the streets taking it all in, there are many stalls along the road that sell cooked food and many people just sitting around watching the world go by. We found a pizza place for food as we had been put off food by all the smells from the market! We left a tip, only a small one, but you could see how grateful they were. So far the Vietnamese seem really friendly, despite what we have heard.
We are just amazed at how many people there are here, and how busy the roads are! The mopeds and scooters often have the whole family on board, sometimes including animals! We have seen people carrying all sorts of things on them, including ladders, gas bottles, huge bags of recycling which are the size of small hay bales!
We spent the evening watching a film in the hostel. Although it was my birthday it didn't feel like it at all! It was too hot and humid, compared with the cold and snow at home!