We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon to the locals) late last night and caught a taxi to our hotel. By the way, catching a late night taxi at the Saigon airport is no small feat, it took us quite some time to hail one successfully.
The hotel was right downtown, on the Saigon River.
Since we were in the midst of the city, this morning, before our flight to the Con Dao islands, we explored the city and a history museum. Walking through all the artifacts at the museum, Tom gave me a brief history lesson on the Vietnam War (Mr. Keller, my high school history teacher would probably be horrified by how little I remembered of it). We will be back in the city on our way back from the islands, and we will spend a couple of days there, seeing the nearby Mekong Delta and more of the city. Our first impression of it - bustling, interesting, good food potential, but smoggy!! And motorbikes galore, even in the pouring rain.
The Con Dao islands, however, are a sharp contrast to Saigon. Remote, rarely visited and wild, they are perfect.
The flight over from Saigon had some of the most beautiful cloud formations I've seen. It was also a bit bumpy.
Runway on the island in the middle of the pic...lets just say the pilot came in a bit hot.
View from our room.
We made it just in time to grab dinner at the hotel tonight, so tomorrow we will explore, by bicycle if the weather holds (rain is forecasted). The only town on the island is just a few km away by the only road here, and we can't wait to rustle up some Vietnamese street food in their market.
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