The iced caramel frappe was a cooling relief, plus they had wifi, everywhere has wifi in Asia, as we made plans for the next day. We decided to make Thursday the museum and sightseeing day and perhaps on that first night just chill out around the streets.
On making it back to Bui Vien we had a flyer for a massage parlour thrust into our hands. We read it over a cold beer and a wine for Lynn and decided we would give it a try, only if just to get about eight years worth of bad skin off my feet. (The trials and tribulations of being a pub landlord).
The massage shop was actually in our alley and I had a great foot and heel scrape (from Nikki) plus the all important foot massage - it literally did take years off my feet. The cost for that and Lynn's pedicure and manicure - £7.
Setting out on the mission of discovering our district by night proved to be impossible, there was enough to to do and see on the street. We were accosted at one point by three street greeters for three eateries, we weren't actually all that hungry and chose the Roof Garden. A waiter escorted us to the roof garden dining area and we ordered two for one cocktails (every place was offering the same). The food looked good so we ordered three appetisers to keep us going whilst first of all the manager and then a waiter tested out their English on us. They were both very friendly people with the waiter actually explaining to us his favourite singer is... Shane Ward. Not many would own up to that back home, Sadly he was another Liverpool fan - he'd never heard of Morecambe.
We finished up the night in our newly claimed local, the Champions Sport Bar. I got talking to a bunch of Aussies from Perth which is where we were planning to be in mid April. They advised us to take a cheap flight out of Kuala Lumpur, great having some local knowledge available to you. The added bonus of being in that particular bar was the fact they were showing the England v New Zealand T20 cricket, I could josh the Aussies for once - they had been knocked out.
On reflection we realised our street was a microcosm for the whole of Saigon if not the country itself. You can buy anything - a hotel room: coffee: alcohol: dentistry: a flight: a tour: groceries: a meal: a woman!: a hat: flowers: a massage. In fact, put it this way, probably anything. You don't really need to be anywhere else.
The next day (Thursday 31st Mar) after a hearty breakfast in Champions we hailed a taxi to take us to the War Remnants Museum. It was closed! The problem with most public museums in Vietnam is they all close for lunch. To be honest it was open but we'd only have had 45 minutes to get around it, we decided to go for a walk.
We were actually in District 3, a more commercial part of the city but it was interesting seeing how the people went about their lunchtime. School kids were doing what all kids did at lunch, finding street corner eateries, but more well behaved. Old men were playing draughts on a street corner. Office workers were eating on the street or using some of the trendy bars and cafes that have sprung up around this district. It wasn't a place you'd see too many tourists.
After spending a few road intersections dodging the traffic we ended up going for a cold drink in the MTV Coffee bar, choosing to sit on the terrace to watch the world drive by; it was also the best place to experience being sprayed by fine cold mist from the awning.
This actually was the MTV studio cafe. Inside it looked and sounded like a disco was going on (at midday), stage dancers were trying to keep in time to loud club music being belted out by a woman DJ with the best boob job this side of the Mekong Delta.
Over the road lots of office workers were eating from a street food cart. Well, they were until the police came along and raided it. We didn't know what the reason was for the raid, nobody was arrested but all the tables and chairs were confiscated and turfed into the back of a police pick up truck. Well, all the chairs less those a member of the staff managed to pick up and run away to safety with - another typical day on the streets of Saigon!
It was getting close to 1.30 and we walked slowly back to the museum, unaware we would both be leaving a few hours later with a different attitude to the Vietnam War.
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