Jan 25 Tour to Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City has 9 million people and 7 million motor scooters. Our tour this morning was designed for us to see them all. Short bus ride to the Reunification Hall, formerly the Presidential Palace. This is the site where tanks of the North Vietnamese army crashed through the gates in April 1975 which ended our involvement in Vietnam. We call this the "Fall of saigon", they call it the "Liberation of Saigon". The war we call the Vietnam war? They call it the American War.
Next we went to the Post Office, a beautiful building designed by Eiffel. The French influence which is everywhere in Vietnam did produce the most beautiful architechture.
So now a cyclos ride. This is a three-wheeled pedi cab and we had a 30 minute ride through Saigon traffic (remember the 7 million motorscooters?)

We ended our cyclos ride at a museum. You know us and museums. Blah, blah, blah. There was a cute child though, and his father insisted I take the picture with his hat on.

Next best thing at the museum was a water puppet show, complete with fire breathing dragons. Very cool, the puppets were controlled by people behind a curtain and the sticks controlling them were underwater.
Last stop, laquer factory. Interesting if you like laquer. Designs made with eggshells, paint and mother of pearl. Nine layers of laquer, lasts forever, ok can we go back to the ship now it's freakin hot.
Sail away from Ho Chi Minh at 4pm. Back down the Saigon River to the South China Sea. Winding and leaning and leaning and winding.

As we approached the end of the river the pilot left us. At that point it was so rough the pilot boat was sending spray to our balcony (deck 7). It stayed a little rough through dinner and the show, it was nice to fall asleep to and when we awoke this morning you would think we were in port, it's so smooth.