Postcard from Vietnam Dear Members, Our flight was totally full and we had a short stop in Hong Kong Airport before continuing on to Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived at 10 in the evening and the temperature was a pleasant 58?. We are staying in this wonderful French Colonial Hotel facing the Saigon River. There is a fairly wide promenade along the river. Hundreds of barges hauling sand, logs, and other heavy materials travel up and down the river all day long. Traffic on the river is more dense than on the motor roads! May is not the hottest month in Vietnam, March is usually hotter. June and July see a lot of rain. We had a little rain shower late in the afternoon. Within Ho Chi Minh City the vehicular traffic is not terribly congested. Cars cost about two and one half times more than they do in the U.S. The people that can afford cars like to buy Japanese or German cars. Most people travel by bus or ride a moped. There is a lot of pedestrian traffic. The most impressive feature about the city is the very wide sidewalks that follow the Parisian model. Sidewalk cafes are popular. The city is not that large and quite manageable on foot. The City Hall building is another good example of French Colonial building style. Most housing stock is new since 1976. Fondly, Mui |
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Newsletter | Jul/Aug 2007