New Years Eve

I got up early and headed to the gym for my freebie workout. There were only a handful of people at the gym which is nice as the equipment is available. A hour and and a half of sweating and grunting and I was on my way home to meet Marie for breakfast. I grabbed some fresh croissants and a small loaf of fresh whole wheat bread from the bakery by the gym. Teasers!
Today we embarked on a walking tour of the city as outlined on a map from the Lonely Planet Travel guide. Once we got our bearings we wandered through the street market, grubby and smelly as most are, and worked our way back to the Bitexco Tower. From there the book took us to Tran Hung Dao statue(you can google this one). We passed several other landmark buildings and ended up at the square of the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. The post office is also in the book because the walls are painted with historic maps. While not a landmark historically, Marie saw a shoe she thought was worthy of note! LOL
Of course, there just happened to be a coffee shop across the street and it just happened to be coffee time. Yeah from Marie! It is called The Coffee Bean and is very similar to a Starbucks. We met two Aussie gals at the table next to us. Karen and Trish were on there way to Nah Trang. We exchanged travel stories and info on must see places as well as places to stay. After wishing them farewell we headed back to our backpacker area. Marie went to get her tootsies pampered and I to the coffee shop to write in this blog. Good air conditioning and excellent WiFi connection plus good coffee just like we are used to at home. Most places here only make the Vietnamese coffee which tastes sweet with a chocolate like flavouring. I always ask if they have espresso before going any further. We were at one place where they said they make cappuccinos but the girl seemed hesitant so I was suspicious. I didn't see any machines for making espresso so I asked the girl to show me how she makes it. She grabbed a jar of instant coffee and showed she adds hot milk. Ugh! Yes, always ask if they do espresso, if they say no move on!
On the street just down from our hotel was a lady with a huge pan of fried potatoes. There was a guy eyeing up the potatoes, as were we, and in German he said the potatoes looked delicious. He ordered a serving so she fried an egg and threw on some green onions and served them with hot sauce. They looked so good we thought we should have some as well. We got our order, no egg, and parked our selves on some steps to dig in. Surprise, it wasn't potatoes but instead was like a chunk of tapioca fried. It was still delicious but we were laughing because the German fellow was licking his chops thinking he was getting "Brat Kartoffel" hot from the pan.
Madam Cuc put on a New Years dinner for us, a very tasty and interesting chicken soup with quail eggs and noodles. She also cooked chicken which was wonderfully spiced. I sampled my first taste of some local wine. Ok but not one I would rush out to buy.
The streets were packed and the scooter traffic was insane. We have never seen the likes. A sea of headlights and helmets! We went for a walk to the boulevard to see what everybody was doing. It was total chaos. The pictures should tell it all.
Just before midnight we headed up to the roof to watch the fire works. They were spectacular with a steady barrage of multiple explosions for 15 minutes!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!