South East Asia Adventure | Arriving

We are here in HCMC having arrived and met up first in Seoul and then HCMC. Though a couple of hours late due to de-icing in Seoul (who knew!)  our guide, Dang (say Dong) whom we have come to really appreciate, was patiently waiting for us as planned and in fairly short order the driver pulled up, and took us to our hotel. With a 2 am to bed time, the morning came quickly BUT we were happy to spend a day visiting the market, the Independence Palace, and buildings around the centre of the city. After lunch (not memorable) we easily convinced ourselves and Dang that the War Museum could be traded for a cup of good coffee and a walk around the main sites in the downtown area. So it was an iced latte for me served with sugar syrup and cafe sua (with sweetended condensed milk! and very strong coffee) for Margaret and a relaxing chat in the cafe behind the opera house. We walked through the old post office, around the square, learned about Confucianism and Buddhism and most importantly how to get across the street! More on that later.

We spent the evening downtown, amid the the New Year's Eve preparations with light shows and music and crowds of people checking it all out. We ate familiar VN fare (green papaya salad with dried beef--think Huong Luong's specialty, salad rolls with pork and shrimp). The women are making the rolls in plain view so I was able to get some tips on how to do that.We made the obligarory trip to the rooftop bar at the famed Rex Hotel, successfully crossing the street many times, using the simple lessons taught by our guide. HCMC is a bustling neon city, completely overrun with mortorcycles (but not dangerously so), and young.  Early to bed, early to rise....