Flying north to Hoi An on the Central Coast

Today is a travel day; we fly from Ho Chi Minh City (which everyone here still calls Saigon), to Danang (only an hour flight), then take a taxi to Hoi An.  Here are a few photos for you:

Photo by Nguyen Hung Vu from Flickr Creative Commons

The main mode of transportation here seems to be the motorbike, and it's amazing what people can carry and do while riding.  The street vendors set up right at the edge of the sidewalk, so you can buy what you want without getting off your bike. These were all taken in Saigon:

One of the ferries across the Mekong

When it rains, it pours, and giant puddles form...

The Saigon Opera House

Built by the French in 1898, closed during WWII, renovated and reopened with a new name (the Municipal Theatre), this beautiful old building is still called The Opera House.  We had tickets for the AO Show (pronounced Ah! Oh!), and arrived a bit early for a short tour of the building.

The first subway is going right beside this old building

The show director has worked with Cirque du Soleil, and it showed; the performance was a blend of contemporary dance, acrobatics and music, and told a story of both village and city life.  We loved the humour, the daring feats, inventiveness and energy of the performers.

The early morning view from our hotel window

The city is a study in contrasts: sleek office buildings beside marginal housing, street vendors on the sidewalk outside Dior and other high end stores, new Mercedes SUVs beside motorbikes with Dad and four kids and on and on... the largest city in Vietnam is an interesting place for sure...

Arrived in Ho Chi Minh City

We have arrived! Our two flights went smoothly, with a two hour layover in Taipei.  We got to the hotel about 11:00, so still had most of the day to explore.  We're staying in the city centre, so we can get around on foot.
The first stop was the Continental Hotel, built in 1886, with a large inner courtyard where tall Frangipani trees provide shade.  This is the hotel where author Graham Greene stayed for several months while writing his novel The Quiet American.
Next we headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral, finished in 1883, with 120 foot spires. We could only admire it from the outside.

Some of the materials for the cathedral were brought from France

 Next we went into the General Post Office, designed by Gustave Eiffel.  It's vast inside, with a vaulted ceiling, wooden benches, a tile floor, maps on the walls, clocks showing the time in cities around the world, and old fashioned telephone booths, some of which have been transformed into ATM cubicles.

The General Post Office

Inside the Post Office with Ho Chi Minh looking on from the far end

These were once phone booths and now hold bank machines

Walking in the city is a bit tricky as sometimes motorbike riders take a shortcut and ride on the sidewalk, even though they're not supposed to.  But it was crossing the street that was most daunting, though we're getting used to it a bit.
A recent news article quotes the mayor saying that the population of Ho Chi Minh City is now about 13 million people, with 7.6 million motorbikes and 700,000 cars on the streets. There are some green walk signals, but most of the time you just walk out and the traffic flows around you as you cross at a steady pace.

Photo by waynenewhuang Flickr Creative Commons

To end the day we found the Pasteur Street Brewing Company, - we followed the signs up an alley, then up some stairs, and spent an enjoyable evening with a couple from South Africa who had done a week of cycling down the coast here.  It sounded a bit brutal at times with the heat and humidity.