There is still remnants of the war visible around the city. A few bombed out areas and of course the Rex Hotel (where Kronkite (that anti-war rat fink!) and other reporters broadcast nightly regarding the war from it's rooftop.)
Our ship came up the Saigon river and we were able to travel for more than 3 hours up the narrow river passing pastoral images of the river life. Most of this area is quite marshy and the river is brown from all the soil being washed into it. You can see from the next picture the banks that are being eroded. The river is deep enough for huge shipping vessels to traverse however they dredge the river often so the ships are not impeded.
The amount of ships carrying cargo is insane and there are traffic jams on the river with these large ships including ours, having to blast the horns to announce that they are coming around a bend in this snaking river.
In the next picture they are net fishing and I can't understand how these small boats stay afloat with all the traffic on it.
There are all manner of boats on this river - They carry everything from sand to palm fronds and everything in between.
How this boat stayed afloat is beyond understanding! An engineering marvel!
Of course the countryside, like every country in Asia is littered with junk, rubble and garbage. The people who live here don't seem to mind. I guess we shouldn't either. They live in squalor, in conditions that are beyond our comprehension. Every disgruntled American needs to be forced to come here and they would kiss our shores when returning home.
Never mind living here, how about earning enough money to support your family! This woman is selling fruit to the crew of the big ship.
Catching fish!
Nice paint job!
Well we arrived in port (see below) The city of course, is covered in pollution. There was a breeze at the start of the day and we were greeted by these lovely young THIN ladies. Rarely did we see a fat woman. (except me)
We took the shuttle into town (10 minutes from the port) What an eye opener this city is.
There are of course fabulous hi end stores downtown but the traffic - crazy crazy crazy!
We walked along the streets for a while but the heat was starting to get intense. We were walking toward a huge market when a pedi-bike driver approached us. His english was pretty good and he wanted us to climb aboard. Why not - the trip to the market would be only $3.00 US each.
Our driver took this picture. He was really a nice guy and they took us right to the market. His friend stayed outside the market and he came into the market with us and we strolled around. Here is a photo of a part with food in it. We also found the chef with some other passengers food shopping.
The market is enclosed with no a/c and the passageways are really narrow so while the sweat ran off my body we wandered around. There were good bargains and our driver helped negotiate lower prices for us. He ever carried our bags. Royal treatment!
I guess we stayed at the market for about 2 hours and when we emerged, our driver, who by now was calling us Mama and Papa asked if we wanted coffee. Well ignoring the fact that it was broiling outside he took us for coffee and Len had a soda.
We knew by now that Chro (at least that's how he pronounced his name) was not going to run off with our packages and camera. We were good friends! He was 8 years old when the war was on and he said his father served with the S. Vietnam army. He said it was a terribly frightening time for a kid.
We didn't doubt him.
Here is the family that owned the "coffee shop" Notice the old woman talking on her phone.
Well Chro and his buddy wanted us to take a tour so we climbed back on the pedi-bikes and went for a hair raising ride through the traffic. At one point when I covered my head with my arm Chro patted my should and said "No worry mama, no worry" - ya right!
That's me in front of the driver. The next picture is was Len's view from his pedi-bike!
Well they took us all over the downtown. We stopped and browsed in antique row. We went passed their beautiful city hall and despite the heat had a great time.
The police are very strict with the street vendors and they are not allowed to accost you on the sidewalk but stand at the curb selling everything.
This old woman was selling odd things and I stopped to buy a pack of gum and gave her $1.00 US.
She grabbed my arm and handed me a lighter as change!
The city is very clean - no litter in the city and these sanitation workers are everywhere.
There is quite a bit of construction going on though not at the same pace as Hong Kong. Here is a new building they are finishing. Notice the helicopter landing pad.
Well we spent a good 4 hours with our drivers. It was a wonderful tour. They brought us back to the bus for the trip back to the ship. Happy to be back aboard and in some a/c.
As the ship went down the river we passed a tremendous amount of rice paddies.
This was a really wonderful and interesting port. On to Cambodia!
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