Day 3 - Friday 9 March 2014

Sightseeing

One of the main tourist attractions here in Ho Chi Minh City is watching the traffic. It's an endless source of interest.

The best places are intersections where one horde of motorbikes intersects with another horde. There are rarely any traffic lights and the motorbikes just weave in and out. They must be amazingly alert because they have to contend with cars, bicycles and pedestrians. 

Cars also have a habit of turning left from the right lane - right in front of the motorcycles - much to our horror - but no one on the road seems to bat an eyelid.

The pedestrians are amusing too. The locals just stride out into the chaos, while the tourists hesitate, go forward, then back and generally cause chaos. The trick seems to be to act confidently and don't slow down or speed up - so everyone knows exactly what you are doing. We're gradually learning the ropes and soon will be plunging on with the best of the locals.

Last night we visited a night market. We were there at 9 p.m. so I'm not sure what time the stalls close up.
The place was packed with people, including lots of small children.

The canniest street vendors were the ones with a small child in one arm and a basket of something to sell in the other. These tiny Vietnamese women have very strong biceps!

It was very hot and humid and noisy and you could never relax - as motorcycles continually roared up and down the centre aisles of the market. In spite of the distractions, we bought a few things (t-shirts) and a fan - which only served to blow hot air around.

Today we went back to Saigon Square market for some other purchases and then visited the War Remnants Museum - a rather disturbing place with photos of victims of napalm bombing and children with birth defects from Agent Orange dumping. A man with both arms blown off by a landmine practically forced us to buy a book about Vietnam. It was hard to say no!

We visited the General Post Office - a beautiful old French colonial building - and more interesting than it sounds - and walked around the city until we were streaming with sweat. How people survive here without air-conditioning, I can't understand.