Saigon by Moped

Today we joined the throngs of folks driving on the roads of Saigon by taking a Motor Scooter tour of the town.  We each had the please of being driven by a young Vietnamese women wearing the traditional dress (you have to use your imagination because when driving, they wore gloves, coat and facemask to protect themselves from the sun, despite the 110 degree heat index).   It was very educational and loads of fun.

The first sites were the Post Office and Cathedral.  Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of people out and about.  An interesting thing, that was not captured well by the camera were hundreds of college graduates and wedding parties having their pictures taken in front of both buildings.  Apparently, it is just a tradition.

Next was the Reunification Palace where we learned the story and saw the sites of the reunification of the country on April 30, 1975.  It was interesting to match up our memories from the time with the actual sites.  Also on the tour was the building in which the final airlift out of the country occurred.  Although it is commonly thought to be the US Embassy, it was a CIA operated facility.

Other sites were the location and memorial of the Buddhist Monk being burned to death by his own hand in 1963 which caused serious unrest in Vietnam.  We toured a local market and had the best yogurt and flan ever for a snack.  We went to Saigon's chinatown and saw a pagoda and learned more about the religions and philisophies of the country.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the tour was to chat with the young vietnamese drivers and tour leaders.  They are a very engergetic group of people who are anxious to share thier knowledge and learn from others.

Tonight we have a group meeting and get ready to begin the bike tour.  Julie and I are both very glad we had this time to see Saigon and acclimate to the time zone, heat and humidity and learn about the city and it's people and history.

Julie on the back of the scooter.  She was sorry she was
wearing a skirt today

I took this shot at a stop light.  If she can ride a scooter I
knew that I could do it too

Me and our lovely tourguides

If you look carefully, you can see the top of the building
where the last chopper departure of the war happened in my
picture on the bottom

Some of the offerings at the market.  With the lack of
refrigeration, everything goes on sale by noon

Julie and our guides

 So, just a few more thoughts.....  Yes, I did get in trouble for taking the picture of Julie doing a shot on yesterday's post.  I think Julie is beautiful all the time, but she did not like the picture at all.  She was a good sport and did allow me to keep it when I offered to update the blog and remove the picture.

Also, three day's and no nut or fish allergic reactions.  We are eating very well and are optimistic by being careful we can continue to avoid them.

We are off to the rooftop swimming pool for dip and happy hour before our group meeting.  Tomorrow the adventure continues.