Saigon was one of our favorite cities. It is exotic, inexpensive and friendly. The inhabitants are mostly young and attractive. Unfortunately for the most part the people here are very poor. It is a poverty that is magnified at nighttime. On the bright side we had a wonderful time here and found the cuisine probably the most to our liking of any place we had visited thus far.

Donna, Peter and Manuella of the tour office the night before arriving in Saigon.

Oliver, the hotel manager with Donna. Oliver sent us an email all the way from deck 5 after he had visited our site. We have truly gone global.

The Mekong river in the early morning as we approach Saigon.

Some of the guides await our arrival on the pier prior to our docking.

A young entrepreneur selling some unknown liquid.

Our guide Can.

It's a motor bike world.

The architecture is varied.

Here is a building whose construction has been halted for lack of continued financing.

The former opera house. It now has some other purpose but it is a beautiful building and well maintained.

We stopped at a small taylor shop so that Donna could have a few dresses made to order.

The women were masks and opera gloves while on their bikes for protection from both the sun and the pollution. The streets are packed and chaotic.

People live above, in and behind all the storefronts.

Some of the locals going to a smaller and less expensive restaurants.

The sidewalks serve as impromptu parking lots.

Donna negotiates for additional carbs.

Our guide showing Donna the location of another shoe store.

I'm holding Donna very tightly so she won't run off to the shoe store just pointed out. she thought it was so romantic.

Remnants of the French influence.

We had no doubt that his little gal will some day own her own international marketing corporation.She wanted $3 for a book on the Cu Chi Tunnels which Donna had plans to visit the next morning. After some negotiation we agreed on $2, probably twice its value. But she was so cute and a big ham for the camera.

We stopped for coffee at an outdoor cafe where we met up with Mariella and Michelle. Michelle is the ship's chief engineer.

Small families traveling on a motorbike is a common sight.

I had no idea that there were so many types of rice.

Donna reviewing the offerings.

Some of the fruits I had never seen before.

The oncoming traffic was always a sea of vehicles.

There was a wedding being celebrated in the hotels atrium which you could observe from the roof.

This was the best one. Donna did well. She had found this one in magazine article about 6 months ago.

Saigon at night.