Travel is Terrific: Back to Saigon

It seems that everyone calls Ho Chi Minh City by its old name, Saigon. That makes me think that dear old Ho Chi Minh was not so highly thought of. For whatever reason, the old name has hung on. So, after packing my little-ish bag, I caught a taxi to the bus station. It was fairly cheap. But, taking the taxi from the station in Saigon was a bit pricier since we had to travel quite a distance to the hostel that I had stayed at last time I was here: Vietnam Inn Saigon.

As we were coming into the city center, we passed by a McCafe! Wow! This was quite a revelation to me! You mean there's actually a McDonald's in Vietnam? So far I hadn't seen any. So, after I had taken my bags to my bunk, I went down to the front desk and asked one of the English-speaking staff if there was a McD's anywhere. Turns out, there's one right down the street!

While walking in the park one day in the merry, merry month of March, through the trees all around, what to my wondering eyes should appear but two golden arches of a McDonald's Restaurant!

I know it's pathetic, but I really, really needed a cup of coffee. What I had been drinking for over 3 weeks was flavoured syrup water of some strange, yucky stuff. Sorry. My personal interpretation.

It's a lovely park that runs the length of the street right outside of the hostel where I'm staying. You'll spot loads and loads of Westerners from all over the world.

There's a bit of water, like a stream in the park, surrounded by fencing and sitting there were these two boats. The bigger river boat is still under construction.

Coffee first, market second. These are crocodile heads. Obviously. Any animal rights activists reading this? Well, if you're of the mind, you can come here and throw paint on these guys. They cost a fortune too! I think they're asking $75 US. Come on! I don't even know what they're good for. At first I thought they were really ugly wallets. I even thought you could open the mouth to put your money in. But, not. They are some sort of strange and different ornament. I can just see somebody taking one home and putting it on their coffee table to scare the poop out of their visitors. Then, little Jonny gets the bright idea to sneak up on Grandma and wave a crocodile head in her face. (I'm way ahead of you guys. Don't DO such a thing to your poor, sweet granny!)

This shop totally fascinated me because of all the pretty trinkets and utterly useless junk they had. But I wanted to buy it all. Don't ask me why! There was a shell I had a particular attachment to but it was outrageously priced. They cut the price down a quarter and I almost got away but another lady took my arm and remonstrated how she hadn't sold ANYTHING ALL DAY because it was SO HOT today. She seemed so sincere that I almost believed her. Then she cut the price in half. Although it was still too high, I CAVED. Now I am a proud owner of a totally useless sea shell. But it's SO PRETTY.

She's the younger, cute shop vendor. I mean she's cute, not the shop. What the heck IS all this stuff?

Ok, it's useless clutter, but, isn't most everything we buy? A guy at another booth very proudly showed me his buffalo horn pickle forks. I mean, shouldn't everyone have a buffalo horn pickle fork?

If I could afford it, I'd buy two of these for everyone I know and ship it to them because I DON'T have a HOUSE TO PUT THEM IN! Ha! Saves me from buying a lot of clutter.

A colourful fruit stand.

Even up close, these plastic flowers look real. When I saw a guy spraying them with water, it made me think they were alive. I had to go and touch a stem to see it was plastic.