Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City..... aka HCMC or Saigon

After 23 hours of travel, we arrived in HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon) at about 10 am.  The flights went according to schedule, but were nevertheless grueling.  We flew from Chicago to Taipei a flight of over 15 hours, had a 3 hour layover and continued on for 3 hours to Vietnam.

We left home at 37 degrees and rain and arrived in 95 degree, 110 degree heat index in Vietnam.  In case you are worried about the weather, I took a screenshot of the weather forecast off my phone.  We are not going to get cold.

After a little bit of rigmarole, we changed some money and caught a taxi to our hotel.  We got 3 million dong at the ATM, before I feel too much like a  millionaire, that is only $131.

Our motel is in the center of the city and near the famous Hotel Continental (as is featured an many books and movies about Vietnam).

Picture of our hotel so you can see that life is not bad.  We are here for 4 nights.

After checking into the hotel, we decided to go for a bit of a walk.  It was about 2 pm in Vietnam and 2 am for our bodies.  We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera House and Central Post Office (a historic site) on our walk.  It was interesting the local people would stop their mopeds in front of the Cathedral and say prayers.  After about 30 minutes in town, we learned that was a pretty good idea.  The drivers are absolutely crazy.  If the road is busy, they just drive the mopeds on the sidewalk.  

Ho Chi Minh picture in the post office

The Cathedral constructed during the French Colonial rule

HCMC Traffic.... No one on the sidewalk in this picture

                               

Julie enjoying a beer at the Pasteur Street Brew Pub in Saigon

That is about it for today.  I am sitting in a comfortable 70 degree hotel room.  Julie has been sleeping for an hour (went to bed at 5 pm).  Tomorrow we are heading for a boat tour of the Mekong Delta.  I get to wake up and yell "Good Morning Vietnam" to Julie (for probably the first and only time).