No blogs posted for several days due to difficulty accessing internet and decline in my health. The sore throat I previously referred to disasppeared the next day, but came back with a vengeance the next day and turned into a general upper respiratory infection. I started my trusty antibiotics three days ago and am slowly improving with symptoms changing each day. Tomorrow I anticipate I will probably lose my voice. I woke up this AM with one eye stuck shut, so w...

Day 24 Mekong Delta The guide was at the hotel before 8:15 AM. As the tour was a "group tour" and not a private tour, I was supposed to meet at the Innoviet office around the corner and about two blocks away. I had been able to convince them that since I had my big bag and was so close that they should pick me up and that they did. I met my travelling companion, Veronique, a 45 year old woman from Marseille, France. Her English was definitely better than m...

Day 23 - Visiting Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels Awaking after another rough night with restless sleep due to the cough and congestion, I ate breakfast at Saigon Mini Hotel 1 (small piece of watermelon, small banana and for me, cornflakes with yoghurt, juice, and coffee, and then I met my guide, Chung, for the Urban Adventures tour. We set out to pick up the others - one couple had changed hotels so we had to find them. There were two other couples, both ...

I am now on Phu Quoc Island and trying to catch up on the blogs, so here goes. I woke up this morning not feeling well at all, raspy throat, increasingly congested, but took my antibiotics and set out to make the best of the day. With some advice from the hotel, I decided to take the public bus #1 to Cholon, known as the Chinatown area, to explore the market there. Although unknownst to me the bus ended at the bus station in Cholon, I wasn't quite sure about wh...

As I started the computer, the TV had what I think was the Vietnamese version of American idol, but no one who seemed to have quite the character of any of the US judges (of course, I can't understand a word they are saying). So what are the other TV choices - here are my guesses - unbelievably melodramatic Korean soap operas, Vietnamese comedy shows (I can tell from the canned laughter), Chinese medieval war stories (these I recognize from China), some soccer ga...