March 22  Fly to Saigon -- Ho Chi Minh City

Just as St. Petersburg will always be Leningrad to me, the Saigon of the evening news from 1965 to 1975 is now called Ho Chi Minh City.  That's just too many syllables.

The flight from Siem Reap to HCMC (that's fewer syllables) was short, and was made great by a DQ in boarding area of the airport.  The Oreo Blizzard was even presented upside down just like home!

 Suburbs

We arrived at the ship at lunch time, so we did.  Not wanting to sit around for the rest of the day, we took the free Oceania shuttle into the center of the city, only about a 10 minutes ride, mostly traffic.  We were advised to take the shuttle rather than walking for safety....those motorbikes will run you down without a pause if you step in front of them.

We passed a number of interesting things whose name I don't remember on the drive in from the airport an then the shuttle ride to the city.  These should be geotagged and you can look them up on Google earth.  I'm doing good to get the internet here to upload the pictures.

 

The Opera House, built by the French in 1890

 Bunch of guys sitting around, just like everywhere in the world

 City Hall

 Ben Thanh market, a short walk from the shuttle drop off point (although several busy streets must be crossed, making it more like a game of Frogger, but without lily pads)

 This was not a food market, mostly clothing with some other hard goods

 

 Lots of barges going up and down the river filled with sand/dirt.  This was unusual because two guys were digging a trench along the top of the ridge.  I have no idea why.  No one else was doing it.

 An overnight stop is an opportunity to take night pictures

 Insignia had a Vietnam deck party this night.  The contest was for the best/cheapest Vietnam native outfit.  Those that had gone to Ben Thanh had the inside track on cheapest.