Saigon by Day

I love Saigon.

Yeah, yeah..I know the O-fficial name is "Ho Chi Minh City", but everyone still calls it "Saigon".

And spoken, "Sai Gon" is so....pretty.

Anyway... Elisabeth-with-an-S had the brilliant idea of spending the night in downtown Saigon instead of returning to the ship. It's a 30-minute-to-one-hour trip into town from port, and that would have severely cut down on our shopping  touring.  Two of "our gang", Ada and Barbara, where leaving from Saigon to fly to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat, so they came in for the day, but Che and the two Eliz/sabeths booked rooms in the famous Rex Hotel  and had ten tons of terrific fun! (well, as much fun as "ladies of a certain age" can have....)

Shuttle ride in..Vietnam is famous for their scooters...and Uber uses them here!

Also a company called "Grab" is all over the place.  No Lyft, though.

"Mom's Touch Chicken and Burgers"...cracked me up.

Banh Mi sandwiches for 12,000 Dong.... or about $0.50.

Scooters and trucks...scooters and trucks.

Ahhh..the Rex Hotel.

Cold Vietnamese Coffee with Coconut Milk chilled  in a slushie machine.  My new favorite drink.

Real Live Vietnamese Pho.... in Vietnam.

Spring Roll Starter...YUM

This is the best way to eat watermelon I've seen in a while....

My room was GREAT- beautiful floors and elegant in its simplicity.

The view is  pretty darn cool, too.

Out for a little shopping.  We walked to the famous (or infamous, whichever way you see it) Ben Thanh Market..

Wonder what caught this little kitty's eye...

Food stalls in the stifling closeness... no thanks.

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore...  but we aren't in the Middle East either...yet.

After retail therapy,  "S" and I headed to the Rex's spa for a little pampering...facials and massages.    We were greeted with a delicious ginger and lemongrass tea. (Mash a finger's length of both ginger and lemongrass and let it steep in hot water for about 10 minutes and add just a touch of honey.  Yes, we enjoyed it so much we asked how to make it....)

The next post will show our night in Saigon.  So, continuing on the next morning...a little more retail therapy... Walking around, I spied a very lovely way to decorate street lights.

More traffic...on the left you can see one of the "Grab" brand of call-a-scooter services.

We opted to take a taxi back to the port, instead of Crystal's shuttle.  The Rex's concierge happily assisted us.  She negotiated with our taxi driver to get us out of town, and to make a side trip in search of a bouquet of lotus blossoms... (well, why NOT?)

You know I love a sign...

"The Energy Coffee That Changes Life".  No wonder it's so popular.

Leather boutique...Cows?  Anacondas?

Great Street Art.

Our PRECIOUS taxi driver took us to five-yes, FIVE- different flower stalls until he found us our lotus blossoms.

For which we payed the princely sum of $8.00 for a dozen.  And got a great pic as well.

And it was back to the ship.  

Vietnam continues to grow.  So many new buildings in just the six years since I visited last.  But this is how I love to remember this land of beautiful scenery and beautiful people. Flat delta, wide open endless blue sky and fields and forests of green.

and Lotus blossoms!!!