Arrived in Ho Chi Minh city last night at 9:40pm on a fairly packed jetstar flight from Darwin. Airport is very clean and at that time of night very empty.

 
We had arranged for a visa on landing which is where you email the consulate for a letter that is taken with you to the visa on landing processing area which is on the left hand side of immigration clearance.
 
We had done the right thing and downloaded the blank visa forms, attached our photographs and handed them across to the official behind the glass who were dressed in uniforms reminiscent of a communist era of days gone by... Wait a minute it is a communist country.
 
The visa costs 25 dollars US per person so don't turn up with Aussie dollars, drachma or any other currency apart from US or 
Vietnamese dong.
 
After you hand the visa form and your passports in, you are ushered to a waiting area next to the booths and you wait... There is no number or indication of when you will be served so with the language  shales and a large group of European tourists who were even more confused than the folks who had arrived from Darwin.
 
After half an hour we received our colorful visas and headed straight through immigration where about 10 officers had been waiting patiently with no customers, so I see a workflow process improvement consultancy opportunity for this part of the tourist arrival experience.
 
We collected our bags and headed through customs and withdrew some cash from the ATM located along side the traditional money changers and headed out into a Ho Chi Minh evening that was both pleasant temperature wise and atmosphere wise.
 
We made our way to the taxi rank which is on the left as you walk out of the international arrivals and although there was a line of taxis, it appeared that you approached the taxi concierge who allocated a taxi... Actually we were able to select a taxi based on company... After hearing the stories of less than scrupulous taxi drivers, we were being a little cautious. Helen remembered that there had been favorable comments about the Vina taxi company so we chose that taxi... Not sure if that was the way to organize a taxi, but we hopped into this clean, air conditioned taxi with a pleasant driver who took us to our hotel which had been described as being "hard to find" as it was down a lane...
 
Allow me to let you know that there are a million lanes in Saigon ( I know it is Ho Chi Minh city, but I love the nostalgic sound of Saigon, plus that is what is on Helen's birth certificate) - and down those thousand lanes are hundreds of hotels.
 
Because folks don't know if you are American, Australian, German... They are listening for your words and trying to work through our accents... So it is easier to write down the hotel name and address to show someone if directions are required. Most of the people who read this blog (a mere handful) would already know that saying it louder doesn't make it any easier to understand... But I'll mention it anyway.
 
We are staying in the Golden Wind hotel which has cold air conditioning, hot water, is clean, has a small fridge that works and costs less than 40 dollars per night for the three of us. It also has fast Internet and is in the heart of the backpacker area and an easy walk to Benh Tanh market and other locations of interest. Being down a quiet lane means that we are woken by the sounds of roosters crowing rather than the beep beep of motorbikes and buses, which is a preferred option for us.
 
The final piece of surprise and delight was the breakfast which was included...  You can have bread, omelette, fried eggs and coffee... Or you can have two types of pho or Vietnamese noodle. One spicy and one not spicy. These are restaurant quality dishes and I have to say for a budget hotel traveller this is the only hotel where'd we have made sure we don't miss breakfast.
 
Tummies full, on the first day we visited Benh Tanh market, the "Victoria Markets" of Saigon, then we went to the Independence Palace where Helen's Grandmother was tragically killed in 1962 when the palace was bombed. War, tragedy, loyalty and death... Words often used together when describing conflict and also true in this case.
 
After an absorbing morning in the palace, we walked to Notre Dame which was shut, but used our time wisely by visiting the Post Office which is another example of interesting colonial architecture.
 
Reliefs on the outside of the building have names like Franklin, Ohm, Faraday, Descartes and more. On the inside it looks in part as if time has stood still and reminded me a little of the railway station to Malaysia that is in Singapore, but in a much better state of repair, maintained extremely well with much more ornate woodwork.
 
We continued our walking adventure down to the museum next to the zoo and museum of war artifacts.

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