Ho Chi Minh City Hotels
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Saigon Arrival
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After some bumpy plane rides and losing the entire day of May 5th, we have arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, better known to many as Saigon. It was nice to have two medium length flights rather than one long transpacific flight and sleeping most of the way from Frankfurt to Bangkok means I'm well rested. Saigon is much like other South East Asian cities but seems more organized-Donna says it's the French influence. As opposed to the helter-skelter traffic of other cities, here cars drive down the middle, motor bikes outside them, and bicycles outside of them. This is the first place I've seen bicycles used commonly and also the first place I've seen face masks worn in large quantity, most likely a remnant of the SARS scare and a response to ever-increasing pollution. The is also the first communist country I've visited and Vietnamese flags abound, as well as other propaganda installed by the government.
 
Just got back from our afternon in the city, not that we really did much touristy stuff. We got money, found a post office, stopped at a cafe for drinks and wound up getting pizza and ice cream, too. We wandered into and out of shops while searching for Ann's Tours, recommended by the guidebook for an excursion to the MeKong Delta. Everyone we asked for directions ponted different ways so we finally just got a cab to take us there for a buck. The guy at Ann's Tours (Tony) spoke excellent English and set us up on a really cool two-day/one-night tour of the delta for $105 each. He also booked our flight to Hue in a few days. He was friendly and they brought us tea twice (Donna drank mine both times, I'm not a huge tea fan) Afterwards, we bought an alarm clock (decided to stop bargaining so hard when we realized we were arguing over 20 cents) and headed back to the hotel. Overall, a good first day in the country.
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