A lazy day while we wait for the new group meeting at 6pm. We wander Ho Chi Minh City visiting the Ben Thanh Market, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office, the old Hôtel de Ville which is now the People's Committee Building and the Opera House. The Central Post Office, a magnificent old building still functions as a post office, although the stylish old phone booths now house ATMs. Vietnamese stamps come gumless so they supply a pot of paste. We trek up to the roof of the Caravelle Hotel at 4pm for happy hour in the Saigon Saigon bar from where the world's press reported the fall of Saigon.
At the group meeting we meet our new tour leader and the rest of the group. We are now heavily outnumbered by Aussies - 6 of them to 2 Canadians, 2 Brits and 1 Swede. We learn that Tet is playing havoc with our schedule, we can't take our scheduled train, instead we are taking an earlier one, which will mean forgoing the planned museum visit and the tunnel visit starting at 06:30 without breakfast.
We move upmarket for our first group meal - The Lemon Grass Restaurant at the top of the Palace Hotel - stunning views over Ho Chi Minh City. Unfortunately we had neither camera with us, so no pictures.






No comments:
Post a Comment