How can I find the time to write this blog? The answer lies in the fact that it is four thirty in the morning here and, as I've not established a full night's sleeping pattern yet, I'm filling it with writing up a briefish account of the main highlights of yesterday. By the way, our hotel room looks on to a side alley and is only picking up the buffeted sounds of early morning motos and those assembling themselves for the harmonious madness that exists here. We were in the breakfast room by sevenish and filled ourselves with assorted pastries, cereals and fruit juices. The fare was far from a fine dining feast but pleased Caitlin nonetheless. Wholesome and varied with nothing suspicious lurking to upset us! A quick conversation with two Pensylvannian women and the usual ablutions untertaken and we hit the streets just before eight. With photocpied map in hand provided by the reception of our hotel, we criss-crossed trying to avoid the multitude of errant motorbikers. Or are they mopeders? Anyway, finding the meeting point for our free guided tour of Saigon was relatively easy. No major fallouts amongst us! No gesticulating to each other about the inadequacy of map-reading skills. No need for Caitlin to intervene to separate the warring factions. However, where was our guide from the university? After interventions from many concerned locals outside the University, after young officials taking our interests to heart making phone calls, after accepting an invitation to sit in the comfy chairs in the foyer of the University and receiving free cold bottles of water and after an hour watching the over-clad students -some were wearing coats!!!-wander in front of us we decided at nine that our guide was happier this Sunday morning catching up on his sleep. Fair enough! By the way, we received an email later in the day, apologising for the non-turn up of our prospective guide. Off therefore under our steam and guided merely by our barely adequate map and Alyson's confidence. We headed into an adjacent park first to be charmingly accosted by a group of late teenaged students eager to practise their limited command of English on us. "What is your name?", "Can you spell your name for me?", "Where do you come from?". The answer to the last one is initially followed by confused looks. Wales? However, Gareth Bale and the Euros football competition have done wonders for the awareness of our identity as a nation. Thefootball team has put us on the map, as they say. What map?, I wonder. Anyway, they've been following Wales' progress into the semi-finals here, with only a little less enthusiasm that the natives in the land of hills and cynghanedd. Strange world! This unplanned encounter with these youngsters who possessed such unsullied enthusiasm and friendliness to us was a delight. Photos having been taken by us and them, we moved on into the increasingly oppressive heat towards the Saigon Opera House, a beautiful building externally. The opportunity would come in the evening to look at its internal features. We continued to drift along the streets for the rest of the morning, pausing beside the River for a while and staking out where some of the main museums were. We passed the Korean embassy, guarded by a sad looking, solitary man in a tarted up sentry box. South or North Korean? I don't know. We'll have to google that sometime! A few hours cooling off in the afternoon in our room where we all eventually yielded to sleep's sweet dreams before tramping the streets again to arrive in just under half an hour at the Saigon Opera House. Allowed inside this time, we took several cups of the complementary peach and lemon grass cold tea before taking the short but excellent guided tour of the building. At six, the show began and we were in the front row. Pre-booked, quite expensive seats....very expensive, if you are Vietnamese and manage to earn the average local wage. We are so fortunate, so priveleged.....and undeservedly so! How to describe the show in a few words? Very difficult in a few words. It was a wonderful spectacle of incredible acrobatic artistry. It lasted for an hour and was jaw-droppingly brilliant. It was moving, it was funny, it was fast and furious in parts and slow and subtle in other parts. We all loved it and couldn't resist a photo with the performers at the end. A must visit, in my opinion, if you ever visit Saigon. After a pit stop at an artisan pizzeria after the show,...we've **********e native yet!.. we pondered here and there to enjoy the friendly feel to the city. There was some kind of show on an outside stage which gathered the crowds and we stood awhile without really understanding what was going on. A small party of young women attired in traditional costumes did some slow dancing and frequent building of towers utilising a combination of their bodies in the process. Elegantly done without doubt, but the biscuit had been taken earlier by the amazing Saigon Opera House Troupe. Back to the hotel we proceeded on our increasingly familar route to the hotel, avoiding the many motor-cyclists using the pavements as their means of avoiding the clogged up roads home. Nos da!