Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Rivers engulf Saigon and they tend to be natural sewers and refuse collectors.... so the focus of the city is away from the water.

The roads about town that used to be filled with silent bicycles (... 8 years ago (Yawn)), is now a hussle and bussle of random motorbikes. You try crossing this road at peak time...it makes your heart skip a beat.

We decided to help the friendly local cyclos who are often living on the streets because they sided with the US in the war, and now aren't allowed the normal benefits of the Vietnamese. Unfortunately we seemed to choose the towns local clowns who couldn't ride a bike if they tried and decided it would be a good idea to take us miles out of our way in the boiling sun.

There are some fascinating war museums in Saigon and worth the time.  This is a model of a suicide soldier who would take this weapon and run at a tank.  Not a very popular job.... He looks very Russian for a VC freedom fighter.

We didn't eat here...

... we did eat here.

During the war Pho Binh Resturant served Pho Bo ( noodles and beef) to the American soildiers and locals downstairs whilst the VC planned the tet offensive upstairs.  This man is now 94, and we thought he wouldn't be around yet he is as fit as a fiddle and very kind.

He was tortured during the war for his part and doesn't look to bad for it.

Saturday night and we got our first taste of the monsoon.  The water on the road was so deep that we were wading in water up to our thighs to get back to our hotel and shop keepers were carrying out buckets of water from their basements.

... might be time to leave South East Asia if this is going to happen very often.