Miss Saigon

I arrived in Saigon (always Ho Chi Minh City on paper) late Friday afternoon. The weather is the same, but that's about it. Vietnam is much cleaner that Cambodia - there's still rubbish, but nowhere near as much, which is nice. The people are just as friendly - the market stall workers, a little too friendly at times. Despite this, I'm looking forward to filling my pack with Ralph Lauren and Lacoste clothes - Genuine Original copies! Hmm, maybe I'll be making use of the national postal services.
I've gotta say, I really enjoyed doing nothing yesterday, except catch up on some western food. Once I leave Saigon, I'll be back to authentic Vietnamese food!
This morning I did a bit of a walking tour (much more dangerous than it sounds) around town and ended up at the War Remnants Museum. Like Tuol Sleng, this is a rather grotesque collection of memories from the (once again, very recent) war. While the old choppers and planes look more like life size models, the images on the walls don't hold back, and once again, being relatively naive to the full scale of this war, I found myself totally shocked and confronted by the looks of utter terror staring back at me from each frame. And that's all I have to say about that.
Not far from the Museum, I came across a strip of footpath that appeared to be the place to sell pets. It was all very cute to begin with - puppies of all kinds, looking in very good condition I was pleased to see, and as I walked along there were turtles, then squirrels, and then what I believe to be a little lemur. Now I could be wrong (it's happened before) but the big eyes and clinging claws looked like a lemur, but I don't know if it smelt like and subsequently was a lemur...The I realised, that I might be entering potentially frustrating territory in this part of the world with the sale of endangered animals, both alive, and possibly in bits...
Crossing the roads here, well, let's just say that if you don't take your life into your hands and just do it, you will never get off the footpath. I want to try to get a video - many of you I'm sure have encountered similar, but I feel an overwhelming urge to giggle with glee every time I make it safely across. Like you've just walked through the lions den without a scratch. He hee. I only wonder how I'll be when I actually get to Hanoi - Population 8.2 million (approx.) with over 4 million motorbikes. It would be OK if they just obeyed the road rules! But what I love about it is the green men. No, not the ones on the traffic lights, but the city volunteers who actually dress in green and assist you across the road, as though you were 80 and using a walking frame...so great.
We have lost 2 of our travelling group here in HCMC, but gained another Swiss lady and an Aussie couple from SA somewhere - remote by the sounds of the accents. So we'll have 11 people on this trip, and our leader Quang sounds like he's just got off the boat from England - obviously a British teacher at his school, or has watched The English Patient once too often. He dislikes the accent, however, American accents are much more desirable - according to the ladies that is...
Today is 32deg I believe, not too bad, with the exception of whatever % humidity it is. Not as hot as it has been, mind. The humidity should decrease as we go further north which will be nice. I'll keep you posted.