WE LOVE SAIGON!

This place is so crazy. The atmosphere is energizing. The vendors are fun to spar with and I normally HATE dickering. One guy scared the crappola out of me when he yelled "TEN DOLLAH" in my ear. Turns out he was trying to sell sunglasses. We ran into him several times during the day. He thought scaring me was a fun thing to do and tried to do it several more times, but I was onto him.

We managed to get a room at the Happy Inn again, although not our fancy VIP room. This time we just had a $20 regular room, but it was fine.

We each bought prescription glasses - Greg got reading classes and I got reading sunglasses in preparation for the quality beach time I'm looking forward to when we get to Thailand.

We spent probably too much time at the Dune Cafe (40 Bui Vien). Bathrooms were clean, beer was cold, waiters were friendly, and they had free wifi!!

We did a Mekong River trip that was interesting. We visited an island with lush tropical gardens and were able to sample tropical fruit, some of which we had never seen before. We went to another island that was home to a coconut candy cottage industry. We took small boats to another area to learn more about the traditional lifestyles of people who call the Delta their home. At one point everyone had the opportunity to hold a big ugly snake and I tried. Really, I did. Those of you who know me well, know that I have a terrible snake-phobia (thanks my darling brothers). I was determined to battle my phobia but, in the end, I just couldn't do it. Greg however had no problem snake-wrangling. Yuk.

We will be very sorry to leave Saigon and we are already talking about our next visit.

Now, off to Cambodia and Angkor Wat!