Downtown Ho Chi Min City

There are thousands of overloaded motorbikes (scooters).  The wires overhead are somewhere between spaghetti and a bird's nest -- a complete tangle at every pole.  Essentially no traffic lights.  Sidewalks covered in parked motorbikes, bicycles and food stands.  To open a restaurant, it looks like youjust  need a low plastic table and 4 small plastic chairs (child sized).  Or maybe you just serve food off a platter or hibachi with no chairs at all.

The colonial cathedral was built with imported bricks -- not so interesting to me.  The colonial Post Office was much more interesting.  Also built from bricks, with very high ceilings, a spacious interior, and ceiling fans to keep it cool.  Because the workers are federal employees, the women are wearing Vietnamese traditional outfits -- a long form-fitting dress.

I had checked it out the day before I tried to mail things.  I took the items to the back counter where I filled out a long form in pen for each of the 3 boxes.  Then they put the things into boxes in front of me.  Each box was wrapped with yards and yards (or, probably, meters and meters) of tape.  Then I was directed to another counter where a woman took all the information from my written form and typed it onto a new form -- more than 5 minutes for each.  When she gave me the total, I was a bit short on Vietnamese money -- not to worry -- they have a money exchange counter right there in the Post Office.

One of the boxes has already arrived in America, so the Post Office project seems to have been at least partially successful.

One morning we went to the downtown "wet market" -- live fish, including a large one flopping around on the floor, were interspersed with leafy vegetables wetted down to keep them fresh.  Parts of dead animals were laid out in baskets and were hung from racks.  Most parts I was familiar with from the Italian markets in South Boston during my undergraduate days, though I never saw  pig breast tissue before though.  Tofu and noodles were also in this section, along with a bin of silkworms (not alive).  It seemed perfectly acceptable for our guide to pick one up to show us, and drop it back into the basket.  (We were shopping for our cooking class later in the morning.)

Also downtown is the night market.  Will and arrived the first time just a little before 6:00 pm when it starts.  The street was just being blocked off (though scooters could still wind their way through), and vendors were setting up tables and racks.  I had my eye on some of the loose rayon pants that the students had been buying.  Prices they had paid ranged from the equivalent of $4.00 to $7.50.  The stated prices was quite a lot higher, and bargaining was expected.  Will was not keen on the bargaining process -- thought the people had little enough and we should comfortably pay close to the asking.  I bought several of the pairs of pants, mailed two back to the US, and went back another night for more.