out and about again today,
so tuck in,
to a hearty breakfast,
we had decided to call back to the market,
the big one,
taking a few pictures,
on the way,
a do-it-yourself home made trolley,
barley half loaded,
but this load looked really heavy,
back to the restaurant,
for a couple of coffees,
they were so nice,
a hello from a roadside bar-b-q owner,
and a roadside game of I am guessing draughts,
we soon arrived at the market,
now that we roughly knew the way,
all we had to do was cross the roads,
then we were inside,
into the now familiar aisles,
past the coffee shops, it was surprising how many there were,
lots of fruit,
and a huge butchers shop,
that spreads both sides of the central aisle,
we had bought a few extra items to take home with us,
past the flower stalls
we made our way into the street,
as a seller with just a bicycle went past,
another adventure as we crossed the road,
a mini, these seem to be very popular out here,
we walked past the doll shop,
I had to feel sorry for this guy, his load of ice had slipped off the back of his bike, trying to tie it back on was a bit of a slippery problem as the ice melted,
that in the distance is what we were headed for,
but first a cooling drink,
of an orange juice each,
we had heard and seen a number of quality motorbikes out here, Ducati, Triumph, but I had not expected to see one of these, a Benelli,
then we arrived at the Saigon Sky Deck,
as many of my friends know,
I do not like heights,
so this for me was a bit of a challenge,
and this was where we were, at number 5 of the top iconic buildings of the world,
and here are the others,
so we have 19 to go,
some of the merchandise for sale,
Diana strikes the pose,
then admires the pose,
we both had a look through the binoculars,
but there is a thing,
my camera made everything seem just a tad closer, the above picture through the binoculars,
this one using just my camera,
looking up river,
there was our hotel,
nearby another hotel whose pool we could see,
no one swimming today,
Diana takes a selfie,
in the river,
it almost appears to look like a sand barge race,
we had the Sky Deck pretty much to ourselves and the good news was that as a senior citizen I was only 130,000 VND instead of the 200,000 VND that Diana was charged,
as it was sort of nearby we called back to the Hog's Breath Cafe,
for a cooling drink,
then a bit of a worry, the wind suddenly picked up and the staff started to cover up the outside chairs and tables,
but luckily the rain held off, we kept seeing this coloured car around town, it actually does not look that bad in this picture, but in real life for me the colour was really unlikable, in a paint colour guide I would expect to find it somewhere between camel breath yellow and cow tooth green, of course it must be me as there are so many of them on the road,
this for me was another colour scheme I thought a bit strange on this Bentley, a dull red with a cream bonnet and roof, it must be me showing my age,
the food has arrived,
some chicken strips to snack on,
a fly had already paid the ultimate sacrifice for trying to drink my beer, so I decided to stop any more from wasting their lives,
a coffee for Diana,
nicely decorated,
the road was packed as we made our way back to the hotel,
after a shower and change back out again,
to a still packed street with bikes on the pavement and road,
a quick pose,
and we were on our way here,
a pose with one of the puppets,
then we were inside, musicians,
on both sides of the stage,
and the show begun,
featuring rural life in the village,
with all of the jobs that go with,
a life in the country,
planting rice,
cutting rice,
and husking rice,
fishing,
and raising ducks,
are both important,
but raising ducks has it's problems,
as cats can eat away,
at your flock,
back to fishing,
one of the two fishermen has a smoke on the boat,
whilst the other is hard at work trying to trap the fish,
then there was water everywhere,
some one had a bit of luck,
next a procession,
as flag carriers came into view,
I am not sure what the story was,
but it was great fun to watch,
as fruits and offerings appeared,
to the accompaniment of traditional music,
a large fish,
featured in the next part of the show,
followed by a Phoenix,
well two of them,
some men appeared next,
as a turtle appeared from the mist,
and approached the boat,
I am not sure what happened next,
but it all seemed to work out well,
children's play time,
as ducks and children,
played in the water
a fanfare,
announced the start of a race between green,
yellow,
and red boats,
they formed a line,
and they were off, making a sharp turn at the far end of the course,
and then back again, and would you believe it? a tie!
dragons or fish,
playing ball next,
then as smoke rose,
and the lights changed mystical figures emerged,
then in bright light,
a lady and her helpers dance,
finished,
a bow as they retired,
to close the show a fire breathing dragon,
the performers,
take a well earned bow, what a great and most unusual show,
a wave goodbye, then a taxi back to town,
where we went for a walk,
as it was our last night in Saigon, we decided to have a slap up last night meal, so I gave Diana the choice of where she wanted to eat,
decision made and here we are,
Burger King,
Diana's favourite and she was in luck, tonight it was two for the price of one!
it was the same deal in Popeyes, but it would have been wasteful to have taken them up on it, I was not really that hungry,
meal finished we then made a move to,
the Hog's Breath Cafe,
for a nightcap,
'Cheers!',
not a very good picture I know but this chap walked by, we were both at a loss as to what he was supposed to be all dressed in yellow,'
then a nice surprise the management of the Hog's Breath sent over some complimentary cashew nuts ,
Diana's coffee had a nice flower on it,
over the road the cafe there is expecting to have a busy evening with their tables and chairs all along the pavement, by now it was very late so we walked back to the hotel and we were off to bed.
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