New Year's Eve in Saigon and meeting up Frankfurters!

We arrived just in time in Saigon to check in and celebrate New Year's Eve.

Our hotel is in a tiny little street right in the heart of Saigon

No need to look for a location to celebrate, the street is THE place to be (unlike Paris...) So obviously it was a little busy...

In front of the main market, with the new Saigon landmark in the background

It's a very family-friendly event and no sign of alcohol excess. There's a lot of music and food from every all over the world. So the atmosphere was really pleasant (though a tiny bit stressful if you want to try and cross the street). It seemed that the whole of Saigon 10 mio people were trying to reach the riverside on their motorbike to see the fireworks. So the closer we were getting to the river, the more difficult it was for pedestrian to walk forward (the motorbikes had stopped even trying to go forward half an hour before, so that no movement whatsoever was possible). So 200m before the river we decided to return to where we could at least breathe...

Here with the opera in the background.

In front of the Town hall.

In front of the main market

Those not trying to fight their way around town on their motorbikes are trying to make a living out of this, and are much more successful at that.

Sticky-rice seller

Spring-rolls seller

We went for a great New Year's day Vietnamese lunch the next day at my family, half an hour out of town. We came back just in time to welcome Giaco and Yvonne who had spent their new year's eve somewhere above the clouds.

Another self-laundry day...

Our shared room on Jan 1st. (all other decent rooms were booked out...)

After organizing our rooms for Jan 2nd and we took a walk to the Vietnam war museum, which was super interesting. After that, it was already time to welcome Claire and Antoine before getting our first meal together.

First group meal in the center of Saigon on Jan 2nd

Here we are at breakfast the next day to organise the route for the coming 3 weeks.

Tentative schedule: 3 countries in 3 weeks...

We then went for a walk to Saigon's major old and new landmarks.

Where is the Lonely Planet saying we should go?

Saigon's brand new landmark

Getting survival equipment before heading to Mekong Delta

The old Post Office

Tropical fruits on the streets.
We were surprised to find out that the high prices
(2-3 USD/kg depending on the fruits) are not tourist prices
but actual prices as my grand aunt confirmed to us...

For the evening we had great food the fresh food stalls around the main market place.

Fresh food stall around the main market

Fresh spring rolls and coconut at the market food stall

Just before heading to the Mekong Delta, at 6.30 am the next day, we shared a little present that Yvonne and Giaco brought: some real frankfurter sausages. It actually tastes quite good in the typical Vietnamese morning soup, yummy!

David