Ho Chi Minh City

OMG! After a one hour flight on a small prop plane (about 40 passengers) we descended through the greyish brown haze of pollution to the vast expanse of Ho Chi Minh City. This city is big! Roughly 10 million people and I'm guessing 9 million motos(scooters). Envision a two lane road with 5 lanes of bumper to bumper scooters and 2 lanes of buses and cars all cutting across the others path. Start and stop traffic but mostly a continuous flow. Nobody ever seems to get upset with anyone else. They just steer around any obstacle, pedestrian, oncoming traffic or crossing traffic and everything seems to keep moving. Along with this is the continuous roar and revving of the motors. Amplify the sound of a hornets nest by several decibels and you would hear what we hear here. LOL, yes a tongue twister. Exhaust so thick you can taste it!
We got to our hotel and dropped our bags, then continued on to check out accommodations recommended by Lonely Planet. Our hotel was great for $15/night, however the staff could not speak any English and we were too far from the downtown river area to do any walking tours. We took a cab to District 1(only 7 km) which took us over 30 mins because of the traffic. We got out at the market a decided to walk. Marie loved crossing the streets, NOT! To cross the street you have to time the approaching cars and scooters and start walking out into the traffic. They watch and adjust their speed to go around us as we adjust our pace to cross. Not for those with weak nerves. We found the backpackers area and looked at several hotels. We have never seen so many hotels. We selected the tall skinny one as per Lonely planet, $20/night includes breakfast, snacks, and dinner. Stay tuned tomorrow for a report on the hotels gastronomy.
While exploring the streets it started to spit down some rain and suddenly turned into a torrential tropical down pour! It rained so harder we ducked under the nearest canopy. The streets filled with water and my sandals were well washed. The scooter riders used anything they could to fend of the rain. Most were soaked.
After arranging the hotel we negotiated a cab back to our first spot. This time the trip took an hour!
We went out ( much to Marie's dismay; more traffic crossings) for a bite to eat. It was a small spot by the university, the food was OK and the waitress was quite charming. She was a student and having learned some English was very happy to practice by making conversation. She also taught us a few basic Vietnamese words. Fun.
The hotel pictures are from our first one at $15.