FLANDRIA

We made it to Saigon safe and shocked.  Our first day was pretty exciting.  The first thing we did was visit Ben Thanh market.  It is down the street from our hotel.  The streets were busy with so many moto-bikes.  I’ve never seen so many and it was very exciting to watch.   The market was really geared towards tourists.  Lots of vendors trying to haggle us to eat at their vending area or buy stuff.  It was very annoying.   This is a place to really learn how to say “no” with a smile of course.  There were lots of exotic fruits so we bought a bunch of them including Durian.  It was a mecca of fruit market and so many other food.  I mean lots! 

The “Dong” money or thousand money…it’s very confusing.  I feel like a retard trying to calculate how much is 120,000 dong is to dollars.  Hunny was not doing any better than I did. 

We had lunch at the first vegetarian restaurant just down the street.  It is a small hole in the wall restaurant with budha food.  We ordered “Pho” in “chay” or vegetarian and some spring rolls.  It is a small family owned restaurant so every family member was eager to watch us eat and made sure we were happy with our food.  The fresh spring rolls were made right at our table.  The food was delicious, much better that what we get in California - that is for vegetarian version.  I got a hug from the mother and owner of the tiny restaurant.  She was very nice lady.

We then got back to the hotel and relaxed.  We ate lots of fruits. 

Again, were were retards…had to call someone to help find out how the shower worked, then the air conditioner.  We were at the sixth floor with a balcony so we  can watch the crazy moto-bike drivers ride in the streets of Saigon.

Today, we were one of those crazy drivers…Hunny and I rented a moto-bike.  It’s definitely one of those things to experience once in your life.  We would go back and drive in Saigon any day.  It was the most fun experience ever!  Driving the moto-bike is like racing a criterium.  We weaved in and out of dense traffic, avoided people, squeezed through tight spaces etc etc.  Hunny was driving and he was stoked.  I was at the back seat navigating through the streets making sure we don’t get lost.  But it’s really hard to get lost in Vietnam.  We drove for hours then as we headed to pagoda temple, a huge dark cloud came in.  It stormed on us.  We were soaking wet driving the streets to get back to the hotel.  Dang! That was awesome!

You gotta be brave to drive a moto-bike around Saigon…for sure have some criterium experience.  Holding the line is important and committing to move is critical.

One of our stops that was cool was BIn Thay market.  It is a big big market with no hagglers at all.  It’s farther our from the center of Saigon but it’s better than the first market.  They even had a “chay” vendor so we had our mid day snack there. The food was fantastic and as usual the service was friendly.  I loved it.  It’s just one of those little vendors with small chairs nothing special but it’s fabulous. 

There are so many poor people in Saigon and they make a living by selling all sorts of stuff.  There are vendors every where we go.  Vendors stake their area anywhere.  Beggars come and ask for food and money.  It’s never ending vendors… 

The weather’s been kind because of the rain although it is humid.  It’s been about high 80’s and nice after the rain stops.  We actually took the moto-bike out again after the rain stopped to go where ever we please around Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). 

Tonight we meet with Mr. Phat our guide.  There will be a briefing at the hotel for tomorrows schedule and then we go to dinner.  There are only six people in this tour including us. 

Time to get back to the hotel to get some massage before dinner.