Day 4 - Saturday 10 May 2014

Leaving Ho Chi Minh City

Woke up this morning to find a classical concert taking place on the steps of the Opera House, directly opposite our hotel. Apparently it's a regular occurrence every Saturday and Sunday morning.

Passing motorcyclists seeing what was going on would decide on the spur of the moment to stop in the middle of the street to watch - until the crowd swelled out blocking half the busy intersection.
The rest of the traffic just detoured around them with no irritation or anger.



Here is a view from the other side of the street with our hotel in the background: -


When the concert was over, the crowd just melted away and life continued on as normal.

Half the motorcyclists wear surgical masks or specially made masks which cover the lower half of their face.
The more pollution conscious ones wear full hoods with slits for the eyes. Not sure what this does to their peripheral vision - but can be an alarming sight when they're heading towards you en masse.

 















After a day of wandering around and a bit more shopping, we met up with our traveling companions and headed off to the airport to catch a flight to Da Nang - on the coast of Vietnam. From there, it is a half hour drive down to Hoi An - a popular historical town near the beach and the river.

As it was a domestic flight, we went to the domestic terminal - and it felt like the kind of place you might see an old lady with two chickens in hand ready to board the plane. (We didn't see any such thing but it felt like we might have.)

We arrived at our resort in Hoi An around 9.30 p.m. starving to death. (The flight stewards on Vietnam Airlines don't have to work very hard for their money. All they do is throw a bottle of water at you and then you never see them again.)

The hotel restaurant was still open so we sat outside, next to the river, under swaying palm trees, drank pina coladas and ate our dinner in solitary splendour. All the other guests must have either gone to bed or were wining and dining in Old Town across the river.