Vietnam (Saigon) - 2005

"Motorbike Sir?".. we think nearly every family within the 3 million population here in Ho Chi Minh City owns a motorbike, will carry anything on it, and there are no road rules other than beeping the horn just to say you are on the road. The most we've seen is 5 people and even saw a family of 4 with the woman breast feeding on the back! This is an amazing place and can't quite get the smell out of my nose, but the people are the best. We have met so many locals, they all want to know how many babies you have and seem to love Australians. As one cyclo drive said 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi'! We got accosted by a cyclo drive (a three wheeled bicycle) the first 10 minutes of leaving our hotel and quickly negotiated a half day tour with 'Sang' and his friend. This was an awesome way of experiencing Saigon being in amongst it. We've learnt a few Vietnamese words which always gets a big grin, so many smiles. 'Sing Chao' (formal hello), 'Gamon' (thanks), 'Chao Tum Bit (goodbye), and a few more. We are also getting better at crossing the road, if you look straight ahead and don't freak out the motorbikes just go around you, its amazing. We have also got to love their coffee which is served with a filter on the top and drips through, its strong but not bitter, and the Beef Noodle Soup "Pho" is great. We set off a little far on our second day there and walked up every alley way and streets around, the fresh (I use the word fresh cautiously) food markets are displayed so neatly but the meat displays are a worry, the locals seem to prefer to check the meat displayed on boards with their hands, I'm sure the germs are all killed when the meat is cooked (I hope!). We did all the touristy things on the first day such as War Museum, Reunification Palace, Pagodas, parks etc, it makes you want to wear a shirt that reads 'I am not an American'. The second day we got up at 5am to go to the park where it was peak hour with exercising, badmitton, tai chi, shadow boxing, lots of strange stretching, and organised exercise classes with bamboo lead by a guy on a microphone, we just followed everyone else doing laps of the park walking. It was a great experience. The shopping is pretty good but kind of not in the mood for it at this stage, although we did get a massage for $7 US for 70 minutes, sounded pretty good and was pretty good until the masseurs asked for $7 US tip.

Anyway at the moment we are in Dalat, we flew here this morning with a plane full of American Diplomats, you don't think that plane trip was noisy!! So far so good, have booked an 'Easy Rider' - motorbike guide, for tomorrow so both of us will be on the backs of little Hondas with tour guide 'Hung' to show us around, so will update later.

Our first cyclo ride