Saigon, cont'd

People in north Vietnam told us that Saigon was even more hectic than Hanoi, and, indeed, it is. The the unceasing cascade of motorbikes on the roads almost reminds me of a river. We arrived on the evening of March 16.

On the 17th, Meryl treated me to a fantastic birthday: A low-key afternoon of reading in a cafe, dinner at Mandarine, one of the city's top restaurants that was recommended in an article on Saigon food written by the NY Times' RW Apple Jr., and drinks at a bar near our hotel. The bar, in the tourist quarter that we're staying in, had several tables of drunk revelers decked out in crazy, bright green costumes and wearing Irish flag hats, so I even got a taste of St. Patrick's day over here. It was great!

We spent the 18th wandering around the city, and Meryl did some shopping. On the 19th we took a hydrofoil down to Vung Tau, a resort town 125 km south of here that Meryl's uncle John visited for R&R during the war. The central part of the town, with a lovely green park and views out over a boat-filled bay - remains quite charming, but the main beaches have become enormously overrun with Vietnamese tourists. Rehoboth, the Delaware beach resort, is empty by comparison.

Today we leave by air for Siem Riep in Cambodia, to spend a couple of days touring the temples of Angkor Wat. We probably will not have a cell phone in Cambodia (it is not worth it to purchase a Cambodian number for the three days we'll be there), so I'll try to post the phone number for our guesthouse there as soon as I have a chance.