Last full day in Ho Chi Minh City

After breakfast on the trot of a delicious roll filled with goodies by the lady who operates the cart at the end of our laneway, we took a taxi to Jade Emperor Pagoda where people take time out from normal daily life to pop in, light some incense, candles and say some prayers.




For some reason, there's a pond right next to the front door filled with turtles. In fact, at the entrance people are trying to get you to buy one, write your name on it and presumably chuck it in for good luck or something.




There are lots of statues like this guy inside.




We conquered another rooftop for lunch, the Sheraton this time, but first of all, the naughty children discovered a gingerbread house in the lobby with real live ladies inside selling goodies. The house was made out of real gingerbread and was decorated with real icing and edible treats. A few stuck-on bits were not so surreptitiously removed and sampled.



We spent the afternoon at the very good War Remnants Museum then back to the hotel for siesta. Peter chose the excellent Temple Club for dinner tonight, upmarket, traditional-French-colonial-looking room with great food as usual - pushed the boat out, about $120 for 6 of us tonight! Walking back to the hotel, the streets had come alive with the customary crowd on motorbikes.



While we were waiting to cross the road, I made friends with a family who had this little cutie on the front seat of the family bike.



When we go back to Melbourne I'll miss this sight when crossing the road.



This is our little neighbourhood. Jessye and Max discovered the little jazz club on the first night and Rosie and I checked it out last night - very good.



The traffic lack of rules is brilliant. People just do the sensible thing when left to their own devices and things seem to flow effortlessly. I haven't seen one single act of frustration/aggression. Here's an example of people crossing a massive intersection when it seems like a good time and cars and bikes not getting mad at them.




Our little lane way is full of parked bikes up the back and people were coming and going at 10pm when we got back from dinner.


Our hotel looked pretty at night.

Pete's b'day

Peter donned his birthday hat and got an antique Vietnamese compass for
his birthday plus a shirt from Jessye.





We explored widely, including this amazing little street lined with antiques/old gadgets.


And found some beautiful and unusual local flora.


Lunch was on the roof of the Majestic Hotel on the river front, a beautiful 1925 building which was apparently Japanese headquarters during World War 2.





We went up the tallest building which has a lookout floor - had a great, though hazy, view of the immensity of the city.


Jessye and Max regularly have pork rolls in Melbourne - a Vietnamese sandwich in a roll - and are keen to try out the real thing on the street here as many times as possible. They are very tasty with lots of interesting condiments and fresh mint.


We checked out Notre Dame Cathedral and a very ornate post office next door built by Mr Eiffel then went back to our hotel for siesta. We reconvened for dinner at an amazing restaurant Peter researched. It was huge and very pretty with trees and fairy lights and a pool inside and kitchens all around the large eating area which our waiter enthusiastically gave us a guided tour of, explaining every dish and ingredient. We had a private room and the food was sensational for a total cost of approximately $65 for 6 of us - just like going to Maccas.