VIETNAM - Saigon, Feb. 14

Last night was horrible. After dinner I got back to the hostel and hung out in my room. After a while I started smelling weed - aka pot. It was wafting up the "chimney" that runs through the center of the hostel and vents all of the steam from the kitchen and the bathrooms. It's an old school way to control moisture, but it works like a hot damn. The only problem is that the chimney acts as a noise conduit, and it also exposes you to your neighbour's drug habit.

Songbirds for sale

I went downstairs to ask about it but the male clerk who works the night shift clearly didn't give a rat's ass. So, I went for a walk around the block to clear my head and give my pothead neighbours a chance to finish their puff fest. Most of the smoke had cleared - bad pun, I know - by the time I returned but by then the drunks started returning from the restaurants and bars. On previous nights they just went up to their rooms to pass out, but last night they decided to have a party downstairs in the common room. The loud talking, shouting, laughing, and general clamor was hard to block out.

When I did get to sleep, I was awoken every hour or so by the door bell ringing. The male clerk usually turns off the door bell fairly quickly and lets people in, but this night he was taking his sweet time. I found out why when I went downstairs in the morning - I guess he had participated in the revelry the night before. He was passed out on one of the couches, and someone I assume was a hostel guest was passed out on the other couch. There were empties and cigarette butts strewn everywhere.

Normally I'd just sleep in a little later, but I had arranged to go on the "Insider's Saigon" classic Vespa tour that morning and had to be ready for a driver to pick me up at 8am. So, I dragged myself out of bed, cleaned up my room, packed, and was waiting downstairs by 7:30am.

Riding "pillion" on a classic restored Vespa

The Vespa tour was pretty amazing. You ride "pillion" - a term I'd never heard before - or as a passenger on the restored Vespa. I didn't mind that at all because, you know, CRAZY traffic!! The tour started out with a coffee stop at a local park where men gather every day to socialize, gamble, and occasionally sell songbirds. It was the first time during my trip when the "noise" was something other than traffic. After coffee we mounted our "steeds" and scooted out to a shrine erected for the first Buddhist monk to self-immolate himself in protest over unfair political and social practices. In this case, he was protesting the 1950s dictatorship in southern Vietnam. Our next stop was a Taoist shrine, then an historically significant Catholic church, and then a Chinese medicine shop that was unfortunately closed for Lunar New Year.

My favorite stop was the flower market. We scooted through the narrow roads and laneways, then got off and walked around admiring the various flower inventories and marveling at how industrious everyone seemed. Our guide explained that the market was busiest at night, but that the vendors still did a good business in the morning and afternoon. By early evening most of the vendors would sell their damaged flowers for "petals" which are typically strewn about small shrines.

We also scooted out to New Saigon, over to the Independence Palace - which was closed, again - and to Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. I had already seen Notre Dame and the Central Post Office so I bought a drink and waited with the drivers. Plus, I was bloody dehydrated and just needed a sit. After that we returned to Cafe Zoom where we had lunch. I had a Mexican-style salad with chicken. You guessed it, the chicken was overcooked and dry. Oh, well. The rest of the salad was excellent and I ate as much as I could.

Lighting incense at a Taoist temple

I really enjoyed going on the tour, in part because I got to hang out with a group of travelers. I've been doing everything by myself so far and this was my first - and only - experience exploring Ho Chi Minh City with other people. One member of the group, Alistair, is an Englishman traveling with his daughter and a friend. I swear, Alistair is totally my brother-in-law Bruce's doppleganger! I had to take pictures to prove it. His friend was an interesting lady. She is a reptile specialist but has taken on a job running a bear sanctuary in the mountains outside of Hanoi. Another fellow is also an Englishman but he lives and works in Australia and has gotten citizenship there. There is also a couple from Singapore who are here because her grandmother died in 2012, which prevents the family from participating in any major celebrations for the next year. I had no idea about that restriction. We had a great time chatting about Singapore and the other places we've traveled in Asia.

I had to check out of the hostel so at around 1pm I said goodbye to the group. Back at the hostel I showered again, finished my packing, and arranged for a pre-paid cab to the airport through the hostel. At the airport I walked around and around the departures level idly looking through the cheap tourist souveniers to see if there was anything I might want to buy - the answer was no. The flight back to Taipei was great, and I was very happy to be back in Taiwan. I smiled for the entire bus ride to Songshan Airport, and luckily caught the second-to-last train to Dazhi on the MRT. Home sweet home!