Ho Chi Min City Day 1

Well I have arrived at my last stop.
The train pulled in at 5, and I had a good sleep. I took a taxi to the hotel district and had a room by six. I took a shower and did a laundry. By 8 I was walking. My first stop was a local market. I will have no problems finding coffee. Tee shirts areless than  two dollars.
I  blew four bucks on  baguette with an egg and smoked salmon, plus coffee in aluxury restaurant.
After breakfast I walked to a Hindu temple. This was an active one with people worshipping. Quite different from a church. There are 2 small rooms, holding no more than adozen people, and crowded with statues of gods. The smaller room was dedicated to the God of Hell with some carved wood panels depicting all the wonderful things to expect if you aren't good. Some things are common to all religions.
After that uplifting experience I went to the War Remnants Museum. This is a collection of military equipment left behind by the Americans. It is a very one sided history of the atrocities committed by the Americans and the South Vietnamese.  It is amazing what civilized people are capable of.
There was a room showing the birth defects caused by Agent Orange. The lucky ones weren't born.
I had to leave, I started to cry.
To add to an already depressing day, when I returned to my hotel, the power in the entire district was off. No elevator, no AC, no fan. It was 35 outside, hotter inside. I went for another walk.
By 4 the power was back on, and I enjoyed a couple of hours of rest, and, of course, another shower.
In the evening I went to the local market. This is in a building a full city block, filled with , literally a couple of hundred stalls, selling everything you can think of, souvenirs, fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, and even coffee. EUREKA!!!
On the outside the walls are lined with more stalls.
The interesting thing that happens occurs at 6 pm. All the stalls close, and the ones on the outside are actually completely dismantled. Within minutes, new stalls move in, in addition to many restaurants. This is the "Night Market". It is an absolutely amazing sight. By 6:30 everything is ready. All the restaurants cook by propane stoves or charcoal BBQ's.
I had supper on the way back to the hotel. A lady had a small pot, filled with burning charcoal. She had a small hand held grill. She would place a round piece of rice paper, the size of a tortilla, on the grill. She would break a couple of quail eggs, and add a few things, like basil, other greens, and substances I don't have an idea what they were. She folds it over, and hands it to you on a piece of newspaper. 25 cents...delicious.
On the sidewalk next to her was another lady. She would take a piece of yellow rice paper, add some pastes, a couple of boiled quail's eggs, some greens, and then she would roll it up. She would cut the roll into 1 inch pieces, and serve it in a baggie. 25 cents, also delicious. I had a couple. Supper for less than a dollar.
When I first arrived in Vietnam, I was very careful not to eat vegetables washed with local water. After I saw the way the dishes I ate from were washed, I decided, the hell with it, I am eating all veggies. I think I am almost ready to drink the local water, but I don't want to tempt the gods too much.
3 more days...
Ralf