Made it to HCMC

Made it from Long Xuyen to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) just in time for the 35th anniversary of "reunification" (end of the "American" war) tomorrow. Can't tell if anything is planned, but there are lots of commemortive posters up all about town and all the taxis are flying the national flag, just like we would at home if the Canucks ever won a game. Well, OK, it's not really the same!

After two weeks of mostly local food I decided to splurge and go to the big Sheraton Hotel here for lunch buffet. Amazing. AC, table cloths with no stains, courteous staff, western food, no rice, clean silver ware, no bugs, indoors. Massive buffet. Took lots of time and gorged. To put things in to perspective, my hotel room in Long Xuyen for 3 nights was just over 1,000,000 Vietnamese Dong. So was lunch. About $27 US. Amazing. Bought dinner the other night for the local team. 6 of us at a local restaurant. Good food and lots of it. Came to about $20 for all of us, including the beers.

Off to Long Xuyen

Leaving Hanoi in a few hours for the flight south to Can Thao, then a few hour drive to Long Xuyen in the heart of the Mekong Delta. I've been to the area several times, but not this specific town. If you search it in Google, you'll find a brief Wikipedia entry and some pictures. This picture is from a nearby town, Sadec, I was in 3 years ago. Typical of the small river towns. We'll be 45 km from the Cambodian border. It's going to be a lot warmer and more humid than the weather we've enjoyed in Hanoi.

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, Hanoi

This is my 8th or 9th trip to Hanoi, and the first time I've done the "big" thing here - visit the mausoleum of former President Ho Chi Minh, the father of Viet Nam. No pictures inside. People from all over the country make a pilgrimage here to pay their respects. It's a very big deal.

The photo of the man with the video camera (famous One Pillar Pagoda in the background, which on the mausoleum grounds) was with a group from one of the rural provinces. They were thrilled to see us there. Insisted on filming us, taking pictures, posing for pictures, chatting. All smiles. The big yellow building is the Presidential Palace (Vietnamese White House).

I particularly like the shot of the proud palace guard with the mausoleum in the background. I asked through our translator if I could take his picture, he nervously looked around to see if any bosses were looking, then struck this pose.

Yes, it's tourists taking pictures of the locals taking pictures

We ran across a couple of wedding parties taking pictures the other day, one at The Temple of Literature and another with Hoan Kiem Lake in the background here in Hanoi. The line of women wearing traditional ao dai was also at the Temple of Literature. This was more fun that taking scenic pictures.

The People's Police Academy

End of a three day class in Hanoi at the national police academy. Off to the south in the Mekong Delta on Monday for another training course.

Hong Kong

11 hour layover in Hong Kong. Took the train into town from the airport, Star Ferry from Central to Kowloon and back for the view (The Peak is in the background), local bus to the tram up The Peak, lunch, walk around Central, train back to the airport.