The Reason We Came to Vietnam

Here goes. Our first tour with Ann Tours will take us to the former battlefields where I served and to the 199th LIB (my former units) base.

Breakfast in a few minutes and then the tour guide picks us up.

Dinner - Our first night in Vietnam

Martha had pineapple fried rice with squid and octopus. I had ginger onion chicken and rice.

Martha's Comments

We went to the Singapore Restaurant.  They asked if we liked spicy food, and then we ended up ordering bland food.  It wasn't that great.  Squid and octopus are not on my list of things to eat again.  I couldn't even attempt the squid, with tentacles everywhere.  I tried the octopus and had to spit it out into a napkin.  Luckily, they had paper napkins.  A lot of the places we went only provided a wet wipe to wash up before, and no napkins.  

Our first day there was a pretty good warm-up for the trip.  We walked to Ben Thanh Market by a particularly circuitous route, as we had a map, but weren't sure which way was north in the real world.  We got directions, and had our first example of the Vietnamese reversing left and right when giving directions.  We ended up walking through a park, and stopping for a break because I was overwhelmed by the people and the traffic.  While sitting on a park bench, we were approached by two young ladies who were college students and had the assignment to go out and find people who spoke English and practice speaking English.  We learned from them that English was the language that was being emphasized for people who wanted to go into business.

The market was an experience on a whole different scale.  The minute we walked in, hands were grabbing me, pulling me to see and buy everything along the way.  Um, my personal space felt pretty violated.  Another break in the corner of the market was needed to regroup, put on my "don't fuck with me" face, and go back in.  Whether it was that the rest of the vendors were less aggressive, or that I had a tougher look on, nobody grabbed me after that.  The market was amazing.  Piled top to bottom with anything and everything.  Clothes, shoes, coffee, food, jewelry, toys.  You name it.  At the center of the market was a food court with several vendors selling meals and drinks.  There was even a place to exchange money.

Following our ventures into the street, we got massages at the hotel.  I got a 1 hour foot massage, while Chuck got a regular massage.  Well, regular for there.  It included some walking on his back, and hot herbal compresses.  Two massages cost us about $35.

Our first day with Saigon traffic was terrifying.  I have no idea why there is not carnage everywhere from the way these people drive.

Happy Hour in Saigon

Two drinks for the price of one. $200,000 vnd. Or $8.98 for four ice cold drinks.

Martha's Comments

We took several breaks in the bar at the Paradise Saigon Boutique Hotel.  It was right off the lobby, and right on the street, providing air conditioned comfort as well as ample opportunities for people watching and traffic watching.  We found that all the Vietnamese restaurants had a separate menu for drinks, and it included lots of cocktails as well as non-alcoholic drinks such as teas, coffees and smoothies.  

Chuck enjoyed trying out the local beers.  I got the "umbrella drinks" which were sometimes decorated to the point where it was hard to find the glass.  Wine in Vietnam was expensive, so I drank very little of that.  I found that they grow both pineapple and coconut in Vietnam, so the pina colada seemed to be a good drink to order.  They were so good, I kept ordering them throughout our vacation.  

Spot Locator running again

Chuck's GPS Locator ran out of battery 2 days ago.   Got new ones an hour ago, but it still isn't tracking.   We'll let you know if he gets it working.   Sometimes electronic stuff is more of a problem than anything else.   He is out now trying to get a SIM card so he can get mobile data on his phone.

Charlie's thoughts

The SPOT was brought along so that my friends and family could follow our progress up the coast towards Hanoi. Once the batteries were replaced and the unit synced with the satellite everything returned to normal.

As for the phone, it was nice to have an in country SIM card so that we could have communications in an emergency and also so we could use Google Maps which worked fairly well.