After breakfast we headed off on a walking tour of the city. From our hotel we headed towards Ben Tanh Market, the main central market in HCMC with a huge range of everything. We then headed through some back streets which showed the locals meeting with friends and having coffee on the street. Kevin bought a coconut from a street vendor and tried to mimic the vendor by carrying his balanced load but it was very heavy. Cost 10,000 Dong or 50 cents. Worth it for the photo opportunity. We then came to the Reunification Palace which is on 12 Ha and has 4 main stories and a basement. It was the home and working place of Mr Nguyen Van Thieu - President of the Republic of Vietnam. In 1975 the Liberation Army's tanks crashed through the main gates and forced the President to surrender to the revolutionary government. From here we wondered through the park away from the traffic to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which unfortunately was closed. Headed across the street to the renowned Post Office which was a step back in history. It was airconditioned and was a relief from the heat outside. We continued down Dong Khoi Street towards the river. This street has lots of the large 5 star hotels and is the business district. From here we zig zagged back to the market and stopped for lunch just around the corner from the hotel. The walk took about 4 hours. Lazy afternoon and then Kevin headed out for a walk around Park 23/9 and I headed off to the supermarket. Asked Kim at reception for a local restuarant and we headed off to Din Ky where we were the only white people across 2 floors. The menu was very interesting and included braised pig brain, ox penis,chicken testicles just to mention a few. We stuck to rice and noodles.
