Day two in Ho Chi Minh City by Lee

Today was a whirlwind day of shopping and activity. Sandy and I met for breakfast again and I had a combination of typical US breakfast food and a bit of Vietnamese food too. I had a little mini omelet, fried banana (can't get enough of those), boiled sweet potato, and a spring roll.

After breakfast we learned that our afternoon appointment at the consulate office was cancelled. After a moments disappontment we realized that we had a totally free day in Ho Chi Min City to do whatever we wanted. We jumped out of our skirsts and into casual clothes and headed off for more shopping.

All the shops are very small and narrow. Sandy tells me that taxes are based on how wide the building is. The goods are set up far into the street so that nearly every block is like an open air market. Today we went by several beautiful flower shops with flowers I have never seen or smelled before.

Later we finally made it to the official market. It is fascinating to me that raw meat is just sitting out in the open air in this incredible heat. I was thinking that I would probably get some terrible version of food poisoning if I ever ate any of this meet, and then I wondered where the restaurants that I eat at have been getting their meat????!!!! Makes me want to reconsider vegetarianism! I know the seafood must be fresh because fish are kept alive swimming in little bins. Maybe they are kept alive until just before they go in the cooking pan?

In the evening we went to see the War Remnants Museum. It is very sad to see the pictures and artifacts from the Vietnam War, but such a moving and emotional experience to see the war from the Vietnamese perspective. It was especially sad to see the lingering effects of agent orange and the on-going suffering of those born with congenital anomolies attributed to agent orange.

On the brighter side, they did have a large section of the museum with drawings depicting peace and hope that were made by children. These pictures were beautiful and showed remarkable talent and optimism for a future marked by peace. My favorite picture drawn by a child was a picture of the world with trees and animals and a river running through it. There were outstretched hands reaching towards the earth in peace. The hands were all different colors recognizing different races. When you see the war through Vietnamese eyses in the War Remnants Museum, it is a very hopeful thing to see the optimism of children for the future.

After that it was off to the Water Puppet Show, which was a lot of fun. Very colorful with dragons, brightly colored fish, and all kinds of splashing and playfullness. At the end one of the dragons was even breathing fire!!

We met an Australian Bloke at the water puppets show. I think he was so relieved to be amongst English speaking people that he just latched right onto us and was talk, talk, talkin. Wherever you are Damon from Australia have a good night and safe travels.

It's time for me to start packing up all my stuff to get ready for the journey to the Mekong Delta tomorrow. I am very excited to see parts of Vietnam outside the city and am looking forward to arriving at KGCC. Goodnight family, friends, coleagues, and anyone else who cares to read about our adventures in Vietnam. Lee