Time To Move
At the bottom of the lift we grabbed a banh mi from our regular spot. As we were paying one of the ladies from the dance class appeared. She was also getting a Banh mi and wouldn't allow us to pay. She very kindly treated us to breakfast. Exceptional kindness! We sat in the park and ate but before long we were approached by a second lady from the dance class. We chatted on Google Translate but the last message wasn't translated very well. We think it said will you speak with my daughter. We said yes and she disappeared. She was soon to return with her daughter following on behind. Wow, a great English speaker she had been hiding from us! We had a lovely chat and took lots of photos. What a wonderful way to start the morning!
A short walk through now familiar streets took us to the bus stop. Shortly after the 104 arrived and we climbed on. Climbed is probably the right word to use as once we stepped into the bus we climbed over the conductor's daughter who was lying on the floor. It looked as though she had to go to work with mum as there was nowhere else to go.
We used our map and GPS to prepare to jump off at the right stop and we did just fine. Next the problems started - crossing the roads! We were at a really busy junction and needed to be on the other side. It was a nightmare. Traffic was coming from every direction on this 4 lane road. After the first, there was more roads to cross at the same junction. We looked for bridges, crossings, traffic lights to slow the traffic but none. We moved position up and down each road trying to find the safest place to cross. There were none. The traffic didn't stop. The only way we could get across was when the number of cars was far less than the number of motorbikes. Cars can't weave around you very easily but motorbikes do it all of the time. We eventually crossed though it wasn't a pleasant experience!
It felt like forever crossing the road so we headed for a place of refuge. KFC. Today they actually had some ice cream cones and chocolate topping (like Ice Magic - for those old enough to remember). We indulged.
Exploring led us to a cinema but there were only a few English movies all containing super heros. Not really our bag so we headed on. Next stop was to find lunch. There didn't seem to be any places nearby, only more expensive hot pot restaurants. We eventually decided to go into the supermarket and we managed to purchase quite a lot at a great price. We had a huge baguette, 5 advocados and some cooked rice all for less than £2. There was even a place to sit and eat with utensils and sauces. We ate a lot, drowned everything in chilli, soy and pork crackling sauce. We don't really know what sauce the third one is but it tastes like pork crackling hence its new name. After sitting for a while in the calm and cool supermarket we decided we needed to go back out into the chaotic streets of Saigon.
We walked for a while, looking at this and that and trying not to get lost or run over. There was a time we needed to cross multiple roads again. We think there could have been approximately 28 lanes of motorbikes! We just walked and they just weaved. We made it across and went to eat as a celebration. We found a small, busy restaurant down a slightly less busy street. The food was good (noodles, tofu, soup) though Christine wasn't too keen on the one particular sauce!
We found our next accommodation. The guards called our hosts to collect us in the lift. The19th floor was waiting and what a view over the city. Pretty spectacular. We drank tea, admired the Christmas tree and chatted until late into the night.
