Day One Saigon

After breakfast in the hotel I met Joel, our photography leader and half of the group who arrived a day early. I know all of these folks from our Morocco trip, which is great. We went to the War Remnants Museum. It was interesting to view the Vietnam War from their perspective. There were any disturbing and famous photos. We walked back to the hotel and saw lots of colorful scenery. It’s very hot, about 95 degrees with high humidity. Crossing the streets is a challenge. There are many, many mopeds and bikes to get across. You just start walking and DO NOT STOP because the bikes will see you and go around. If you stop, they’ll misjudge your movement. This takes a good bit of blind faith to cross the street. I’m trying to get next to a local and mirror his walk. In the afternoon we visited two pagodas, Chua Minh Huong and Chua on Lang. There was lots of incense and statues. Then we stumbled on a really cool ancestor worship ceremony in an alley. They were burning worldly possessions such as money, houses and food, all of which were made out of paper, to send to their ancestors. The people were super friendly and invited us to join them. They even offered us beer and snacks. Pho for dinner. Yum! Then we walked back to the hotel. This is the beautiful view of the river from my balcony.