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Wandered around and ended up at a night market, bought a small “Northface” daypack for 11$, It might really be Northface as they are made in Vietnam. It was a shop till you drop bargin place, like china when we went i 1996.

Then sauntered down Bui Vien street, I thought of photographing some pretty teenage “Message Therapists”, but thought better of it, especially posting to my blog. Everything rocks, here is a photo taken from the street.

Suddenly a fight broke out in front of a bar down the street. Chairs and tables were flung about. It took a long time for the police to arrive,

I am ready to leave Saigon.

The problem with solo travel is that it leaves you with too much time. What to do with the rest of the day after the city tour, I decided to go to the Zoo by motorbike, like all thrilling rides, it stops being fun after 10 minutes, then you cant wait for it to end. The zoo is deserted and it is beginning to rain I am not looking forward to the motorcycle ride back

The zoo was also a botanical garden but not pretty.

Took a cab back, I probably overpaid but for 4.50$ it was worth it not to ride on the back of a motorbike in the rain, the motor bike was 1.25$ for 15 minutes of thrills/terror.

Waiting for dinner in a restaurant arround a swimming pool in front of a hotel.

I booked a group city tour and again I was the only one on it. The first thing I learned was that the whole of South Vietnam was/is called Saigon, not just the city. Further in the beginning it was a civil war in Saigon, his descriptiondidnt differ from what we knew. However he told me that the official description was the American Invasion, they dont talk about the civil war.

I had one interesting thought. The decision to liberalize the economy in 1986 came from Saigon since Hanoi had had a centralized economy for much longer. Thus although the North won the war, the Souths vision for the country won in the end. If we had prevailed in Vietnam it would be just like north and south Korea.

The first stop was the Saigon presidential palace, and the next was the war remnants museam. It used to be called The American War Crimes Museam, but in 1986 it was changes in order to encourage friendship.

The first floor was dedicated to the our anti-war movement, I began crying, our efforts were important! We were appreciated. I cryed the most seeing the effects of agent orange the chemical we used to defoliate vietnam on children born later. Some even now. I show no picturesof this. The pictures above are Jane Fonda, Pete Seger, and the death of a student at Kent State.

We went to a toaist temple Look closely this shows the after life. Not to nice.

I took a guided tour of the mekong delta. I turned out to be the only one on the tour. The guide was a wealth of information, Is two grandfathers fought on different sides in the war. When his parents got married one of them was against it but came atound when the grand kids came, there still appears to be some animosity, the government discriminates against groups who opposed it and the city is called saigon rather than ho chi min city in the south.

He also taught m how to cross the street. You hold up your arm and walk slowly at a steady speed and the moterbikes will go around you. It is important not to stop, Its terrifying

The mekong is the bread basket of vietnam

It is lush wet and filled with coconuts

We stopped for a fruit break

These turtles are not for eating, you are supposed to buy one and release it into the river, you then can feel good.

Rice at the market each is different,

One last thought, Vietnam had a completely planned economy until 1986, It wasnt working for them and like china they transitioned to a market hence capitalist economy. I am beginning to lose the faith I grew up with, in socialism,

Never been in a place like this

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Everything waa daunting in the entry hall, many lines, but then a nice young man came up with my name on a card, I had arranged for a cab with the hotel, but without knowing it I had arranged for a transfer! He told me to sit down and he did everything, what a good surprise. I did have to pay again for

the visa.

Ho chi min city hcmc, hopefully a picture is worth 1000 words

Today and yesterday was one of misshaps. First I stepped out of the bus and spained a muscle in my leg, I am limping around, althoug faster tody then yesterday. I had a message, whish was painful but the massage person, a man isicated that it would help.

Then when I checked in for my flight they discovered that I had made mistake of one day in the passport expiry date and they would not check me in without a new one. I didnt actually panic but I was prepared to. The tourist information people didnt know what to do but the sent me to the immigration office, my flight was in 3 hours. I began to limp quickly in the direction they indicated, when I saw a sign “Tourist Police we are here to help.” They lent me their computer and I found a visa service online, for 177$ They emailed me a letter which allowed me to get on the plane. Hopefully this drama is over, and I will be able to enter Vietnam.

Our guide offers a free tour of a monastery the day after our official tour was over. We drove in his truck to a nearby town. Many trees had yellow bands in them. He said that that made tree sacred and thus no one could nail into it or harm it. He had told us about a more elaborate practice of the hill tribes we visited. When a baby is born, it’s father goes into the forest and ties the umbilical chord around a tree. It becomes the childs spirit tree and no one can harm it. Our guide saw both of these practices as a way to protect nature. The Thai government also has laws against cuting trees.

I asked him about vegetarianism and he told me this story from the teachings of the buddha. A family was starving in the desert. The father died so to stay alive the family ate his body. Then the mother died so the son and daughter in despiration ate her body. Finally the boy died so the girl had to eat her brother to survive. If you eat meat imagine you are the daughter who had to eat her father, her mother and her brother!

He said that a monk must give up money, meat and sex. The first was easy but the latter two quite difficult, although the hill tribe diet, had at most an ounce or two of meat and that might have been special for us.

He had other stories about the hill tribe people, each group being quite different,

There are tribes that are matrilineal and most are matriarchal.

In most tribes premarital sex is prohibited but in one it is encouraged. The girl throws a rock at the boy she wants and then runs away. He must run and catch her. Not being a fast runner I wouldn’t have done too well. This tribe also has a single man and a single women in the village who’s responsibility is to teach the girls and boys about sex, respectively. He said the girls only get one lesson but the boys more as their job is harder.

He also told us about one tribe that are still hunters and gatherers. They are rarely seen because they move their settlements often.

The last hiking day was all river and all I wore were flip flops. Ihad to move carefully to avoid hurting myself

After 3 hours or so we got to a cave park, Quite a spectacular cave. Huge

but the cave formations were not shiny like some caves I have been in. Part of the trip was by bamboo raft.

This spot is the most beatifull I have ever seen