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 what I was doing (as taking the public bus is not a typical tourist activity). A very nice young man a) gave me his seat and b) in the little English he spoke indicated he would help me. When we got to the bus station he actually walked with me the two blocks to be sure I got to the market. This was yet another frenetic crazy sensory overload market of Vietnam; as usual I took some pictures to try capture the experience which never really do it justice. I then walked out and started down the street in the direction back, passing several stores selling Christmas decorations which I had not seen before. I found a bus stop marked for Bus #1 and waited. Then Bus #1 came way over in the left lane and nowhere near where I was standing. I had watched coming to the market to see where the return bus stopped and remembered a stop a few blocks away on a different street so walked there. I watied and then saw the bus stop about half a block away. I ran to get on and was lucky as the bus was stopped long enough to pick up several people and I think the driver saw me running to the bus.

Took the bus back to the other bus station, closer to the central area of District 1. My hotel was in the area of the inexpensive hotels, the "backpackers' area" and, althought in an area full of restaurants and travel agencies catering to this group, a bit of a walk from the more central attractions of District 1. So I walked around, stopped for a coffee at Gloria Jean's (it and The Coffee Bean have made it to HCM City) andate lunch at a really nice restaurant, Vietnam Kitchen, and old colonial building. The man who brought me my food told me George W. Bush had eaten there and he had served him. I had a shrimp and noodle dish that was quite good. There was a group of, I think, Russian tourists at the next table who ate more food than I could eat in a week. The restaurant had some fixed price multi course menus and I think they ordered the biggest one. I then walked, visited and Indian Temple and a mosque, walked down to the riverfront, and then back to the Museum of Fine Arts. This museum differed from the museum in Hanoi in that while it had some politically and militaristically inspired art, it also had art for the sake of art. HCM is very humid as is all of Vietnam, and the galleries had open windows, to allow air circulation; I questioned in my mind how long the artwork would actually last. I took a trip to Ben Thanh market which is merchandise, not food, for the most part - clothes, jewelry, purses, scarves, shoes, souvenirs, etc. Across the street from the back was the gold market. I was tired and not really interested, but it had some resemblance from the outside to the downtown LA jewelry district.

While wandering around, I had been presented with multiple brochures promoting massages. By this time I was tired, my throat was not good, and I was getting increasingly congested and coughing, and thought a massage would be a really good idea. So I picked one of the places and went back; I was taken through a small art gallery to a back room where motor scooters were parked and up a stairway to the "spa." I had a really wonderful massage (ordered the 60 minute, but am sure I got a longer massage) for $10. From there I went just a few doors down to Lemongrass for dinner. This is a well known restaurant with two locations, this one and another up high in a hotel with a good view I am told. Tradtional music was playing which was nice. I had chicken with lemongrass, a fairly good but not great meal, and then took a taxi back to the hotel, hopefully to get some rest and feel better.