Well we were up early as expected. Kevin headed off to the park 23/9 for his brisk walk and I followed shortly after with the intent to explore around the market area. At the park there are people playing badminton, aerobics, running, walking, shuttle kicking and even ball room dancing. I wondered around some of the back streets where the locals were setting up for the day, either in shops or on the footpath. This included fruit, flowers, drinks, meat on footpath and don't forget the coffee stalls. Coffee can be over ice which I suppose is an iced coffee but it is very dark coloured. not much milk. After our respective walks we headed down for breakie. Ms Nhi greeted us as long lost family members. She has recently been promoted to the tourist desk and looks after all bookings including hotel and tourist trips. Ms Phan the previous manager has been promoted to the groups new 3 star Hotel. Breakie consided of juice, fruit, yoghurt, eggs (Kevin had fried with bacon and I had boiled), crusty bagette roll with strawberrie jam and tea and coffee. What a feast. After breakie we headed off to explore behind the market and to look for this Hotel Kevin had read about on Troung Dinh St which was worth checking out for future visits. Of course he wasn't sure of the name and there were plenty next to each other. He thought it was Lan Lan 2 so we went in and got a brochure and prices. Looked good. Of course, when we got back and he checked it wast the Blue Diamond Hotel which was right next door to the one we went into. Will have to go and look again today. After this it was off to the chemist at 160 Pasteur St to stock up on medications for the next year. Very cheap compared to Aust. Kevin had to go to the toilet by now so we found one in a park and he had to pay $0.10 for the privelege. We headed to HCMC Museum which was interesting and full of history. We spent about an hour here and a lot of the time dodging couples having wedding photos taken. From here we went to the Rex Hotel - 5 star to sit in the foyer area and people watch wjhile we cooled down. Then off to my favorite store - Tax Supermarket to buy toilettries and other stuff. Kevin got sick of waiting for me and headed back to motel by himself. I followed and was hoping to grab a taxi cos my buys were heavy. Of cause no taxi to be found so I lugged all my stuff back. By now it is 2pm and Kevin had eaten a bag of crisps for lunch and I wanted to try the street food - Pho soup. We headed out and Kevin says he was going to watch me eat. Couldn't find any Pho so settled for Pork Donner which cost $1.40 and 2 beers, another $1.40 so lunch was very cheap. Tasted good and I didn't get sick after. Lazy avo back at motel and Kevin headed out later to find the local Indian Restuarant that was on trip advisor. Internet not working in room so he decided to explore. I went down to lobby and used their internet to find the info. Baba's Indian at 164 Bui Vein was well rated on Trip Advisor. When Kevin came back I jumped in with all that I had found on the internet. We headed off later for Baba's and ordered butter chicken, chicken korma, garlic nann and riata for me. Only drank water cos Kevin didnt want to pay $1.20 for a beer!!! Go figure. Food was excellent and all the feedback and good comments was well deserved. As we hadn't had a drink we decided to stop at the footpath bar area and have a couple of Green Saigons for $0.60 each. We met a couple who had been working in Queenstown NZ and he was from UK and she was from Montanna USA and they were heading home via Asia for 5 months. They were living on a backpackers budget of $20 / day each. Was interesting talking with them as they had just come from Thialand and Cambodia. The small kiddy seats we were sitting in were now nearly out to the middle of the road and the one's on the other side of the street the same. Only one lane of traffic could pass at a time. Very suprised that all people were well behaved and no fighting. Back in Aust there would have been a punch up for sure. We sere jammed in like sardines. Well after a tiring day decided to hit the sack. Goodnight at 9.30pm
