drron29

The market has an emergency clinic. And the wonderful durian.

Our first stop was the Central market. In the morning the emphasis is on food. A lot of pork. And everything is used.

a fish trap. Selling rice. Note the scales in front of him.

The second morning at the dock. Late the previous day the Viking Orion had arrived. Also the large container ship that had arrived at 7.30pm the previous afternoon had unloaded then loaded containers and was on it's way before 7am. Then I was on my way on the Saigon Street food tour. Which in fact meant a brief tasting at a food court and a restaurant lunch. Though we did see some street food at the Market. Notice the scooters going through a red light. Crossing a road in Saigon can be dangerous even if you have a green walk signal. You may notice the large numbers wearing green shirts and helmets. Grab is the largest ride, eats and even rental platform in Vietnam. And if the traffic comes to a halt many of the scooter riders continue on the footpath.

It's easy when you have a tremor to get that effect. Up until now I always delete those photos. So now I will post a few. more good news for Mr Luxury!😉

There is an everyday menu/room service menu. You can access it through your TV. Items on it can be ordered basically from anywhere. Today I saw pizzas being eaten in the Panorama lounge. We have seen someone order pasta in the Japanese restaurant and in Atlantide we often order deserts from that menu if we don't like anything on the Atlantide menu. If you can't access it just ask your butler to bring it up for you.

We sailed the Dawn last year and the Moon early this year. The only real difference is what staff are on when you cruise. We enjoyed the Moon cruise more as many more staff that we had cruised with before.

Back to the ship for Halloween. Off to Atlantide again. I had the pie then tomato followed by the liver from the Halloween menu. They were all very good. Rojaan had the cheeses and mushroom turnover and the lamb. She then once again had the pavlova and I had the sour cherry and apricot gelatos.

Just waiting. Then I noticed a display by an Influencer/ instagrammer. Yes she had set up her phone on a tripod. Fortunately we were soon off to our last stop the Central Market.

Next off to a comfort stop at the Rex hotel. And you could see the Sheraton hotel where we stayed in 1999.

Next we were off to a temple, Grab was the most conspicuous of the food delivery, scooter taxi and even rental car markets. this must have been their oldest employee. And amazing what you see transported. Now to the temple.

Not sure who buys lacquer ware now but certainly not the cottage industry it was 25 years ago. Using egg shells now. And to the OTT shop. I went off by myself to a nearby park which used to be a military cemetary in the South Vietnamese days, Now I felt like a little snack and back at the lacquer place they sold snacks and drinks. They wouldn't acceept US dollars but I noted a person getting their fee in USD.

Next off to a lacquer wear factory.

Then the history Museum.

A few pictures through the fence and around the Palace. Now a drive past the Notre Dame Cathedral which is closed for renovations but a stop over the road at the Post Office. The Post Office was designed by Eiffel.

Finally at the first breif stop the Reunification palace, former South Vietnamese President's Palace.

No I just realised I had only posted the first page of the Kaiseki lunch menu. Others though are on a roll.

Next morning awoke as we steamed up the Mekong and were nearing the dock. Today I was on the Saigon discovery excursion. Problem is at least a 1.5 hour bus trip there and back. It could be worse as if you are on a large cruise ship you can add another hour to that. The number of motor scooters is amazing. And high rises.

Usually the FA will hang it. sometimes a little hook on the seat in front and if no other option it is folded and placed on top of our carry ons. Never been an insurmountable problem. And if it is 30C outside I would carry it over my arm or on our bags handle. We then get a taxi if they are air conditioned or a car service if we know that taxis are often not air conditioned eg BKK. In Japan the limousine bus to our hotel.

And I always wear my jacket on the plane.So it makes no difference to our packing. Plus there’s at least one member on CC that travels HLO but still meets the dress code. So that’s why I don’t understand.