Since Siem Reap was so tranquil, we felt that it was time to kick things into high gear, so we jumped over to the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon). We had heard tales of how hectic the streets of Vietnam feel, and oh man did Ho Chi Minh deliver. We were afraid to stand still, even on the side walks, for fear of being run over by people, cars or scooters. From 6AM 'till the wee hours of the morning, the city radiated with chaotic energy. People intentionally drive the wrong way down streets on motorbikes, unyielding cars honk constantly while battling for road space, and pedestrians play Frogger to get across wide multi-lane streets.

The city was surprisingly modern with tall office buildings, convenience stores, big hotels, and shopping malls. At night, buildings light up with all sorts of neon, banners, reader-boards, and illumination. Unfortunately, just in a couple of areas, we noticed a little underlying current of seediness, nothing that felt unsafe, just an uncomfortable number of tight-dressed young ladies in some establishments.

The other thing we had heard about Vietnam was how good the food was. This was no lie as everything we had was out-of-site good. Not surprising, the pho, bun and bahn mi were incredible, but the real surprise was how good all the other food was too...pizza, Japanese hot-pot, and mochi to name just a few. Not only was the food some of the best of our trip, it was so ridiculously cheap that we felt like we were taking advantage of some of the places. Pho was around $2 per person. And at one pizza place we had a plate of chicken wings, a big pile of salad, a pizza and two cokes for a whopping total of less than $5 - that covered both of us!

The downside to our time in Ho Chi Minh was, due to our own lack of climate-planning, the unbearable heat. Similar to Cambodia, the temperatures got up to around 40 degrees celsius (104 fahrenheit) plus very high humidity. This resulted in going out for a couple of hours in the morning to explore, then running back to hide in the moderately air-conditioned hotel for the hottest hours and then going out again at night. The evenings were a pleasant 85 degrees or so with about 90% humidity :)

One of the most interesting things we did was to attend a Water Puppet show. This was a one hour show featuring puppets that spring to life from a stage made of water. There is a live band and voice actors for the puppets. We had no clue what the story/opera was about, but it was fascinating to see. We still have no idea how they were able to control all of the puppets without any wires or rigging showing. Charley says: it's the best puppetry he has ever seen not involving body parts. :)

We also went to see a show at the opera house called AO. Think: showcase of culture, history, traditional music, dance, and gymnastics presented in sepia toned costumes and lighting. It was a very cool show.

Overall, Ho Chi Minh was nice and we enjoyed the food and the sights that we saw. We wish we had planned a little better to not visit in the height of the hot season, but it certainly gave us renewed appreciation for our lovely Seattle climate!