Saigon

A couple of weeks ago, Gerhard and I spent a long weekend visiting Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam.

There wasn’t too much to do except shop. The market was very overwhelming at first, but once you figured out how it was laid out, it got easier to navigate. I bought a great Dolce & Gabbana purse, a classic Louis Vuitton, some surprises for my family when we go to the States in December, some knockoff golf tops and of course, I seem to always find a white blouse I cannot live without!

We took a day tour to the Mekong Delta region. After a two 2 ½ hour minibus ride, we arrived at the mighty Mekong River. We were ushered into the boat and headed across the murky waters to Ben Tre Province. It was very wide at this point and you mostly saw large car ferries on the water.

Once we arrived, we stopped at a coconut candy factory, where they demonstrated how they make a kind of coconut taffy. We got into smaller longboats to navigate the smaller canals. We moved silently through the lush tropical landscape and it would have been quite idyllic if there hadn’t been so many other boats passing us in the opposite direction!

If there is any anti-American feeling, it is well hidden behind the open, friendly Vietnamese smiles.