Our First Day out in Saigon

Well we finally made it out into Ho Chi Minh City. Since the maid was due to come to the apartment today, we decided to get out and about. This was accomplished by walking out the front door of the apartment, taking a right, walking one block and waiting for a shuttle bus into District 1, which is Old Saigon.

The bus takes 5 minutes longer than a taxi and is 1/10 the cost, so one of us was all over this, and the other just wanted to take a taxi.

It was effortless, and we now both agree that this is the best way to get into downtown Saigon.

5 m from being dropped off, we saw a little Art Shop. In we walked, and found several paintings that we are absolutely in love with. The first one was 240. In Vietnam, the currency is the Dong, and about 16 000 = 1 USD. Many times one will say it is 100 meaning it is 100 000 Dong or about USD 6. When we saw these prices, we quickly assembled about 8 paintings. We decided we'd have some for Jakarta, and some for Kingston. When we went to pay, we discovered the prices were in USD, not Dong!!!!! So we are still artless, though we are thinking about getting the original piece that brought us into the shop.

While out and about, we ran into a friend that I used to teach with in Venezuela. Kevin Mulqueen, was there on the sidewalk in front of us. Virginia spotted him first. After Venezuela he moved to Vietnam and taught here for several years. Two years ago, he took a year off and visited us in Indonesia. We had just bought the land, and were waiting on building permits. Here is a photo of us on our land toasting with friends. (I'll have to insert later).

Here is a photo of us on the street.



Upon returning to our apartment, we tried giving Tri a quick feed of pablum. Here is the video. It didn't work too well, and we resorted to the bottle after a few scoops.