The French called this town, The Pearl of the Orient. Wonder why? Most of the people here still call this town Saigon. This area has long been a hot bed for fighting because of its' location as a port. Saigon was controlled by Cambodia until the French kicked them out and then the Communists kicked the French out. Today, it is a worn out town with some new construction. The areas we rode through to get to "downtown" were typical Asian sights. People living right along the street selling this that and the other and you have to wonder how they all can live. You'd have to sell a lot of bread to get by. They do see bread. Since this country was controlled by the French for almost 100 years, they left a lasting wonderful impression on their bakeries! They make french pastries! We were able to buy French bread at the market for 30 cents a loaf. We bought 6 loaves. There were the 4 of us and Sondra Levy Davis. We were so hot and hungry we ate 3 loaves while we walked through the market. Kathleen had intended to give the other loaves to the homeless people we passed along the street getting there. On our way back, she only saw one guy and gave him a loaf and we had 2 left over.
The market was full of locals and visitors like us just wandering through the stalls wondering at times what exactly we were doing. We saw lots of sights...who knew that a bottle of wine with a cobra inside it with a scorpion in its mouth would be something everyone would want? These things were both shocking to see and intriguing. How do they get the snake in the bottle?
It was St. Patrick's Day. We ate lunch on the roof of the famous Rex Hotel. Famous for the media that stayed there during the Vietnam War. The hotel is only about 5 stories high but it still gives a nice view of the city and a very welcome breeze.
We took many photos. However, in the process of downsizing them, we may have deleted them! We are trying to get the ship's computer guru to retrieve them. If we do, I will post them.
Nobody but our small group on the roof of that hotel was celebrating St. Patrick's Day! Their loss. Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!
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