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Janet was racing around countries since our move into Dunman Rd with a possible visit to Brazil coming up in September, so I'd stayed at home saving money for a Brazil trip with her then.... but it fell through.... so she was off to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City/Vietnam where I'd never been - so I booked a trip to coincide.
4th August, 2005
Garuda Indonesia offered the cheapest ticket - 2 hours flying from Singapore - 90 quid for the ticket, 30 quid for Taxes and Fees, 50 quid for Visa, photos and taxis to/fro Vietnam Embassy - flight was full, met at Saigon (the locals call it that and tend to mean District 1 - Central City) by Sheraton airport pick up - crazy roads/driving - millions (3) of mopeds, fewer cars - all traffic goes at around 20 mph - but at least it does move......
Into the Hotel - views from our 19th floor room...... not stitched together properly yet.... see.... very few cars.....
Janet realises she's left a wallet on the plane - found and returned (later on) - minus the 270 US$ cash - but happily - with the credit card etc....
No time to mope.... off out walking around - up to Notre Dame Cathedral (red bricks so not much like the original) - and the Post Office (Colonial architecture), then back to Hotel - for drinks and dinner.
5th August, 2005
Breakfast then Janet off to work and I read all day - curry cafe for dinner
6th August, 2005 - Saturday
We do a City tour in the morning - Mr Long is our guide - first stops were Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office....
she'll kill me for this one...>>
a nice quiet museum then....
A Chinese Temple
, very ornate with incense twirls
everywhere
The Chinese market -
very cramped, busy. 
Then to Reunifcation Palace (used to be the President's Palace, and is the place where the VC tank came grumbling up the road - then smashed through the gates - many years ago - the tank(s) are still there in the grounds), Coffee Shop for lunch then off out to the BIG market nearby, Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.
7th August, 2005 Sunday
All day tour to Mekong Delta - My Tho - Mr Long is the guide again.... drive for about 70 Kms south-west, onto a fairly large boat to cross about 2 Km's of river to islands - then onto smaller boats (sampans) to navigate the streams and islands....
very peaceful, shaded......
Into a piece of land owned/worked by a family - stacks of fruit trees and honey bees.. ate fruits - Longons, Dragon Fruit (weird trees and fruit they are) - drank Honey Tea and wine - pleasant...
The "father/grand-father"?? I guess, of
the family, showing a comb of honey - with bees by the hundred all over it - the
incense sticks in his right hand apparently calm the bees - they were very small
and very peaceful...
We all had a go at holding the comb...
we're not chicken!!
Onto the bigger boat again to go cruising up the biggest island (Unicorn), past the construction of the new bridge (oh dear.. civilisation is at hand!!) to lunch spot.....
- big organised lunch - Elephant Ear
fish, Spring Rolls etc... good.... Walked through lots of family plots - selling
candy, fruits etc.... amazingly peaceful - just about no roads, right in the
middle of a big river delta - excellent!! Then onto the smallest sampans where
we had to do some rowing...
our tour guide for the sampan part of the day....
nice lady..
back to the mainland, back to the city/hotel by 17:30... where... we'd met up with a group of 4 on the tour - Ross Meder (Canada) www.china-e.com, Grace, Edmund and Alice (Hong Kong) who were determined to find a nice French restaurant that evening and asked if we'd like to join them - absolutely!! We assembled later on - after some "investigations" had been undertaken - and off we all walked to "The Caprice Restaurant", in the Landmark
- brilliant!! A most friendly and helpful Manager and staff - with
great food and drink - BIG recommendation to anyone who wants a lovely meal in
great surroundings!! A great evening - hope "the four" are well and happy, sorry
we didn't meet up again.
8th August, 2005
Read all day - tried to change flights - couldn't - coffee-shop for dinner.
9th August, 2005
Read all-day - wanted a Thai dinner - walked around lots - eventually finding one just across the street from the hotel.
10th August, 2005
Morning tour of the Cu Chi tunnels for me.... - again - Mr Long (www.vietnam-travel.biz) is the guide - 70 Kms North West of the city - well organised and very impressive - 240 Kms of small, small tunnels - we crawled through only 130 metres of them - and these were the "bored-out for fat foreigners" ones - even so... you had to squat, duck your head, and keep your arms in front - and then waddle like a penguin to get along - very claustrophobic, hot, sweaty, and very dark... but - brilliant!!
You just wouldn't have seen this entrance unless it was
pointed out. Also it looked incredibly small and the guys who did try it -
initially said they wouldn't fit in - but they did - arms raised and wriggle
down - apparently this was the "pregnant-ladies entrance".
Mr Long the tour guide helping...???
American tank demolished by a mine (the
rear of it was well messed-up) - apparently all the BIG trees and foliage had
been eradicated by de-foliant, that's how the tank was able to get to here - all
the trees you see - have grown since the war ended - 30 years ago...
this was the end of the 130 metres of
crawling - we'd just popped up through this entry into a larger "room".
There was an opportunity to fire live rounds from AK47, M1 and other guns..... very loud/noisy - I didn't want to do this - back to the hotel by 14:30, read a bit and dinner in the coffee-shop.
11th August, 2005
Read in the morning - then out walking the streets of District 1 - the main images I have of Saigon are the mopeds, the overhead wires and the crazy/lovely mixtures of apartment buildings - tried to capture these here....
Outside the city - there are better
examples - but these 2 or 3 apartment buildings - so different from each other -
together with the lovely big trees.....
The wires and to a lesser extent the
mixture of building styles down a small offshoot road..
This hasn't come out too well - the
building in the centre of the piccie is incredibly narrow, with the dark
balconies being able to accommodate at the max - 2 people standing side by side
- the rooms behind could have been only a max of 7 feet wide!!
Here come the hoardes of mopeds...
Who's on which side of
the road??.... 
They appeared to me - to only look to
the right (priority to the right) - they never looked left or backwards - but I
didn't see a single crash!!
French for dinner
12th August, 2005
Janet back around lunch-time - off out shopping (big market etc...)
13th August, 2005
Off to airport - plane delayed about 2 hours....
Vietnam - Good place!!