Ho Chi Minh City

Upon arrival in HCMC we again found a hotel recommended by Lonley Planet and it was another keeper. Rooms just fine but the staff exceptional. We had planned to stay three nights and the hotel only had rooms for two nights, but we figured we would find another room for our third night. However, after reading up on the touristy stuff to do in HCMC, we figured we could take it all in in one day and be on our way.

HCMC is a very large (13+ million souls) and spread out over many miles. The old city - District 1 - is quite densely populated yet enjoys many very beautiful parks. There are some excellent examples of French Colonial architecture and many of it's modern buildings are impressive. The traffic is mad and the drivers far more aggressive than those in any city we have visited so far. While we have had ample experience with Vietnamese drivers trying to edge past inches in front of our feet, when push comes to shove they have, til now, ceded right of way rather than run us down. That desire to avoid a collision appears substantially diminished in drivers from HCMC, as evidenced by torn up fenders on each of the thousands of city cabs and the many street side auto repair shops rebuilding the front ends of motos.

Using the LP walking tour map, Kim and I set out earlyish Wednesday morning. Our route took us to, the Bitexco Finacial tower - 289 metres tall with a viewing platform on the 49 floor boasting panoramic views over all of HCMC, but for the smog- the Siagon River, a small street market deep in the old Cholon district, the Siagon Opera House, the People Commitee Building, the City Post Office (a very beautiful French colonial affair), a very swank avenue with stores selling all the top designer brands, a statue of Ho Chi Minh in a lovely little park (the statue is called "Bac Ho", and I really dug it) and a few other buildings of note.

After the walking tour we also took in the War Remnants Museum. As with the Killing Fields, this is tough to comment on, but is certainly a must if in HCMC.

Latish in the afternoon we returned to our rooms and joined a small group of fellow travellers on the balcony for frosty refreshment. The first round wiped out our hotel's ice supply so I was dispatched to a bar around the corner for beer and ice. While there, I struck up a conversation with the expat American owner, Marc, regarding the many beautiful guitars hanging on the walls of his pub. I played his very nice, '71 Guild, though I did not recognize the logo on the other guitars. Marc informed me that they were the creation of a HCMC luthier, Nguyen Van Binh, and with the exception of the Guild were new and for sale. I played a few and returned with the ice. A few minutes later I returned to Marc's pub and, long story short, I am now the proud owner of a brand new, handmade Binh guitar, solid Koa sides, back and neck, solid spruce top, rosewood everything else, great sound and playability, in a case, for less than a good hard shell case would cost in Canada. Whoooo!

Returning to our balcony, folks wanted to see and hear the new guitar, so I played a few songs which the two young folks running the hotel overheard. Til late in the evening I was trying to meet their requests of songs they wanted to hear and sing along with, though sadly I know few songs by Air Supply, Cilene Deon, and Micheal Buble. They were, however, happily introduced to Blue Rodeo and Elvis, and we found common ground singing Eagles tunes. As we waited for our taxi this morning, the staff again requested I play some songs and all pulled out their iPhones to record the event. I tell you, I'm a fricking rock star in HCMC.

We are on our way to Can Tho, a city on the Mekong Delta, and a stop on our way back to the beach (two more sleeps).