We had a relatively slow start today as we were checking out. After brekkie & arranging the luggage to be stowed, we set out into the regular hustle & bustle of the city. We'd become quite adept at getting across the road now.

We walked a few blocks to the War Remnants Museum to finish off our tour from the other day, namely all the machinery on display outside. We were approached by a man who had been wounded in the war. Both arms were missing, one eye and a leg. He was friendly and offered the stump of his arm to "shake hands" and chat with Daniel & Steve. He said he was assisting the Australian soldiers during the war and was injured by a land mine. He then asked for some money to help him out which we found very confronting . Although we empathised with this unfortunate man, all the advice we'd read and heard was to avoid encouraging such activities. As much as we hated doing it, we apologised and declined.

The next stop was the City Museum which went into a little more detail about other aspects of Vietnam's modern history - war with the French, war with the Japanese, war with the French again, war with each other, then finally war with the Americans. Steve commented that "with that amount of conflict, I think they have earned the right to have their own country". Just as we set foot in the door, it bucketed down outside. We decided that meandering through the museum was the best thing for the moment whilst the storm passed. Problem was, it was still pelting down when it was time to leave.

Steve got chatting to the doorman who was having lunch under cover on the front steps of the museum. Turns out his sister lives in Canberra and he visited her not so long ago. We decided that it wasn't worth the effort to try and leg it in the torrential rain but we didn't want to stray far from the Rex as we were being picked up in a few hours. We chose to just get a cab to take us the few blocks back to the Wrap and Roll where we'd had dinner the night before. The streets were like a river and were lapping some of the shop front steps. The cabbie dropped us off across the road and we waded to the footpath in water about a foot deep, shoes soaked, still pouring rain and on the wrong side of the road for lunch. We just bit the bullet and paddled across, trying not to get drowned in the wake left by the passing motorbikes. Finally inside the Wrap & Roll we laughed about it all and settled in for a nice lunch.

Off to the airport. The driver was on time again so we were on our way to Da Lat. Steve saved a small fortune buying domestic tickets through the Vietnam Airlines directly but there was a nagging suspicion as to whether the fine print had been missed. Fortunately the reservation was ok so we were good to go. Prior to leaving Aus, we'd joked about this flight and whether we'd be in a cargo hold with goats and chickens. Fortunately it wasn't the case.

Tomorrow we explore Da Lat.