Potty Talk

A day didn't go by without a discussion concerning the condition of the nearest bathroom....usually this discussion took place during meal time, of course! 

Here are just a few of the more memorable statements:

     I have seen worse!

     Don't go into the one with the blue urinals!

     They are okay, just stay away from the second one...it has a giant spider in it!

     Can you wait?

     There isn't any toilet paper!

     This one has twenty rolls!

     The door doesn't lock.

     Do you need toilet paper...I have some.

     You have to use the men's...they are working on the women's!

     You have to use the men's, they finished with the women's!

     Be careful of the faucet....the whole thing moves because it is only connected to a hose!

    

     Let me take your backpack, you don't want anything to fall in!

    The only thing I would fish out is my passport...watch, phone, sunglasses all stay in!

     I can't tell by the picture if it is men's or women's!

     It's in the engine room ( of the boat)...the fumes from the engine hide the odours!

     It's on a two foot riser.... Make sure you quads are strong...keep your balance!

Perhaps the most important question was, "Alice, can we use your hand santitizer"?

     

     

     

Early Morning

This picture was taken at 5:30 am and already people are set up and selling vegetables and breakfast.

Look how far onto the city street they are. I feel like a target when I cross the street and they are comfortable sitting there.

Museums

We spent a good part of the morning visiting the War Remnants Museum. We had been to the same type of display in Hanoi four years ago, but I think this one was more impressive.

It makes one feel kind of uneasy looking at all the photos of cruelty and death....not a comfortable museum to spend hours in. No photos were allowed inside.

Breakfast

Only two more days of Asian breakfasts! Not that they are bad breakfasts....on the contrary, they are usually excellent, but I am missing my yogurt, cereal and skim milk. Especially my skim milk.

I just don't want any more omelets, fried rice or soup for my first meal of the day. Even the excellent fruit is becoming boring.

Sometimes the location can make a huge difference on how I feel about the food. Breakfast served right on the Mekong makes one feel much better about the food they are consuming...whether it is better or not.

Today was the typical Asian menu, but it was served on a roof top terrace making it a much more enjoyable meal than it actually was.

Almost Home

Fred and I left Hong Kong a little later than planned due to a late arrival of the plane, but made up time on the flight over. And then we circled Ho Chi Minh City for half an hour because the airport was closed due to a severe thunderstorm! Not really my favourite time to land.

After the relatively calm three days of Hong Kong, Saigon feels like a mad house. The drive from the airport was insane....Saturday evening at 6:15, pouring rain, windshield wipers that worked only on occasion, a driver who didn't know where our hotel was located....all makes for a trip of the lifetime.

Adelle, speaking of rooms, if you want to recommend a hotel to a client, this is the place. It is new, modern, clean and located in one of those typically tall and narrow Vietanmese buildings. We have a fairly large room overlooking the market so I can't speak for the other rooms...this is the one you booked for us and I believe it is an Executive room.

Seeing we are without our fellow travellers, we don't know what to do with ourselves today. I think we will just wander around the city. We do want to go back to the Reunification Palace so will fit that into our days here.

The Stinkers

"What's that smell"?  I think we heard that pretty much everyday.

I am almost proud of the fact that I was the first to confess that it was my sandals...almost proud! Although my travelling companions were much too polite to say anything, my sandals started to have regular showers after that ill-advised confession.

Asian hotels always have two toothbrushes ready when you arrive and they soon became my sandal's best friend. The toothbrush, my sandals and the bath gel spent many hours together. I guess it isn't the best idea to only bring the sandals on your feet and not any spares!

Towards the end of the trip, I began to notice strange odours in the vans, in the Tuk Tuks or anywhere there were feet...and the odour wasn't always mine. Suspicion set in and after three weeks in this heat we weren't quite as polite. Comments were plentiful and sometimes a little funny and sometimes a little cruel. Sorry.

After lunch today we thought we might have to have a sandal burial and I actually have a picture of the offenders, but couldn't download it....you just have to take a guess on the sandals size and colour! From now on all pictures will be from the knees up.

The moral of this little blog is to realize that one pair of sandals and 35C heat don't get along. We all brought a pair of runners along, but the heat!!

The reality is that in the beginning of the trip sandal smells were a big thing, but by the time this trip was over we had to admit that we have smelled much worse. Much, much worse!

Cities

Hong Kong is not the largest city I have been in, but it is one of the most interesting. Spectacular buildings everywhere. They say that New York City has over 800 buildings taller than 100 metres while Hong Kong has 2000 or more. That says something about the skyline in this city.

Yesterday we wandered and found the Mid Level escalators and an area called Soho. Hong 

Kong is not at all flat and these escalators take people from the lowest point all the way to the top. You can get off at various points to shop, eat or just plain people watch. Quite often in our case, people watching involves a refreshing beer. Today was no different...we may make a beer drinker out of Alice yet!

The escalators are under the shelter, perfect because today it rained for much of the day. Didn't stop the happy wanderers.

We splurged and are staying in the club level rooms in this hotel....free breakfasts and afternoon drinks and appetizers.

The appetizers and wine was our first course, Pringles our second and gummies our third. The second and third courses supplied by 7-11 down the street. We found out this morning that Alice and Jim ate at the same elegant dining establishment that we did. Some days you just can't muster up the energy to search for a restaurant. Besides, who knew that Jim loves Pringles?

Tonight we promise to eat a perfect last meal in Hong Kong....we all leave tomorrow. Us for Vietnam and Alice and Jim for Canada. They have a great flight, Hong Kong to Vancouver while we fly the milk run....HCMC to Bangkok on to Tokyo, Calgary and finally home to Saskatoon.