Return to Saigon

We checked back into the Queen Ann Hotel and they gave us an upgraded room and for $25 extra are letting us keep the room until 6 pm tonight. We have to leave for the airport at 9 pm.

We walked back to the central market area to pick up Pam's blouse, but it wasn't ready yet. So we walked a few blocks over to a place I had read about in Travel and Leisure Magazine. They called it the "best street food in the world". They make a Bahn My sandwich, which is a French/Vietnamese creation. They barbeque little pieces of pork, take a heated french roll (crispy on the outside, warm and soft in the middle), cut it open and fill it with pork, some really fragrant veggies, and a yummy hot sauce. If you're ever in Saigon, it's at 37 Nguyen Trai Street. They are so good, we'll probably go there again today after our tour of the Chu Chi Tunnels.

When we went back to pick up the blouse, we saw that they had shut down the market, and instead had moved everything into the street. The streets were crowded, but they still let the motorcycles through.

A word about the motorcycles: I think Vietnam must buy up 90% of the world's motorcycles, and most of them are here in Saigon. Crossing the street on foot is like entering a game of pinball. You just have to step out and keep moving and hope the bikes will go around you. And you're not any safer on the sidewalk, because the riders will drive right up on it if the road is getting too crowded. But somehow it all works because we have not seen one accident yet.

We ended the evening last night with a walk around the surrounding area, trying to find the hotel where we stayed 11 years ago. We know it was near the Palace and the War Remnants Museum, but when we got to that area there were lots of high rise buildings that were not there before, so it made it hard to recognize anything. We tried to find the Continental Hotel, made famous in Graham Greene's The Quiet American, which was also near our hotel, but we couldn't find that either. When we got back to our hotel, we Googled the address, so maybe we'll have time to try again today.

We're now waiting for our driver to pick us up for our Chu Chi tour. I hope he shows up in a car and not a motorcycle!