Because we'd crammed 2 tours in on one day, we had free wandering time today. First stop was Bên Thành markets so we set out to tackle navigating under our own steam. Crossing the road in Saigon is a fairly daunting task at first - wait for a small break in the deluge of cars and bikes, then holding hands cross in a steady pace and allow the motorbikes to flow around you. Steve was pleasantly surprised that the street vendors didn't hassle us too hard to buy their wares - wow was that about to change.

Lam (our guide from the previous day) has said that the vendors on the outer perimeter of the markets were government owned so you couldn't haggle with them, but it was a free for all inside. She wasn't wrong. Every single vendors attempted to convince you to buy something... anything! "Shirt for you sir? What you looking for?" was the usual opening line. In some spots they actually took your arm or hand and dragged you into their stall. It was a struggle to get them to let go. Steve said it was like Paddy's markets on steroids. We wandered around the main stall holders first, then around the outer perimeter.

It was then that we found what can only be described as "Hard Sell Alley" - 20 metres of the most ruthless clothing spruikers on this planet. A very narrow passage of stall holders selling shirts, shorts, bags and belts. It was a unrelenting continuous bombardment with the three of us continuously replying with a polite smile and "no thanks". Steve then spotted a stand with leather belts so he stopped and the stall holders descended like seagulls on a hot chip. Whilst the lady was doing her best to convince him that these were the best quality leather, Sue and Daniel were being tempted with a variety of shirts and shorts. They eased up a little once we were sitting down but continued to push us to buy more and more. We were having a very good time because they were all joking around saying to Sue things like "oh you a mean mom not buying Daniel more shirts". They were all amazed how much Daniel looked like Steve.

We'd also been told that all the stall holders would pander to Steve and pretty much ignore Sue. They were right. As Sue described it "I was like chopped liver". Even Daniel got more attention than Sue.

After all the commotion, Steve came away with 2 new leather belts while Sue and Daniel decided a shirt and pants each. Sue haggled very hard to get the price for the clothes down but Steve had already emptied his wallet on the shorts. Thankfully the stall holder personally led us to the cash machine and we got the bill sorted. Later when we got back to the hotel, Daniel discovered the shorts didn't fit and a button hole in Sue's pants wasn't cut through so we had to venture back. Daniel passed on the offer and went swimming instead. This time Sue and Steve came away with 2 new leather wallets too.

The produce section of the markets was fascinating. There was a real pungent smell about it which took some getting use to. Combine that with the sight of freshly butchered meat and ducks being gutted on the floor and Daniel wasn't keen to linger.

We'd arranged with our tour guide from the previous day to go to the Mekong Delta tomorrow. Lam met us in the lobby and went over the itinerary. We settled on a price of 4,000,000 dong (which equated to about $200) for a whole day personal guided tour, morning tea, boat rides, lunch and the driver. A very good deal! Things went south from there. After running around the street trying various cash machines and banks, it looked as though we didn't have sufficient funds in our Cash Passport account and it was going to take a couple of days to get the funds transferred. We had to apologise to Lam and miss out on our Mekong visit.

It got worse... when we jumped on the internet to transfer more cash, the password for our main account wasn't working!!! We started to panic a bit. Sue rang the Greater back in Newcastle and they sent a new password so we were back on track. We then checked the Cash Passport account again and discovered that there WAS sufficient money to pay Lam. We finally got the cash, withdrew the money and met with Lam again. After all the turmoil, we all needed a stiff drink so we went out for a late lunch / early dinner at Barbecue Garden and had a fantastic meal.

Daniel went back to the hotel for a swim while Sue & Steve walked around town for a bit. The weekday peakhour traffic is even worse the weekend. Congested roads mean little to the motorbike riders. Why wait in traffic when there's a perfectly open footpath to drive up! Sue and Steve found that walking down the footpath was just as hectic as being on the road. Also, it appears that traffic lights are just a suggestion. If you're in a real hurry, just go for it.

There were lots of little food vendors catering to the people on their way home, as well as convenience stores with assistants running various things out to the riders when they bothered to stopped at the traffic lights.

We finished the day with some drinks on the rooftop bar at the Rex.