To the markets and old town

A leisurely day was had today, and we got up at 7.30am for breakfast, then I did my 20 laps of the big pool before we ventured into the old town to take some photos and look around some more.

We walked down a few different streets than we had before and perused the shops and the old architecture.

One shop was selling beautiful models of old sailing ships as well as tiny models of ships that were encased in light globes. Very lovely but impossible to bring home. Not sure of the prices either!

All the clothes shops seem to be selling the same variety of shirts and dresses and we’ve seen quite a few families with Mum, Dad, and the kids all dressed the same in the same pattern. They look hilarious and I caught one of our fellow travellers yesterday sneaking a photo of one family as they descended the escalator. He reckoned he just couldn’t resist.

Ross refuses to get matching shirts and dresses, even though I have seen a lovely banana pattern which I’m sure would look very attractive on us.

We wandered around and then stopped at a little cafe for a coconut coffee for Ross and a yoghurt fruit shake for me, since it was very high humidity and we needed to replenish our fluids.

Shops

The heat was not too bad but the humidity just seems to make up for it.

Of course most of the shops are selling the same kind of merchandise consisting of souvenirs and clothes and stuff, but occasionally you get one that is a bit different.

There are dozens of Tailors lining the streets and apparently you can have a suit or dress made up within 24 hours. We don’t really need anything, and of course, we will be leaving here tomorrow anyway.

The food markets are a bit stinky, as you would expect, so we avoided them and walked along the river front until we got to the Japanese bridge again and crossed over to the other side.

All the boat owners along the river were trying to get us to go for a cruise in their boats and several ladies carrying yokes with baskets of fruits and vegetables on them kept wanting me to take photos with them. It’s a lousy job, but a lot of women seem to be doing it!

It was a bit quieter on that side of the river and we went in search of the ‘rolled’ icecream that we had seen before, but unfortunately we couldn’t find any.

Boat

That will have to wait for another time.

We went off through the streets towards the hotel but got waylaid by a Starbucks for a frappechino and to relax in the air conditioning.

After that we got a bit lost and went down a few back streets. We passed a very chilled out giant orange Iguana that was resting on the footpath on one street, so it was an interesting sidetrack.

I guess he was someone’s pet as no one tried to cash in on us getting a photo with it.

Finally we found our way back onto the street where the hotel is and it was back home for more relaxing by the pool.

This evening we went out to have dinner in the old town and see the night market. The weather had cooled considerably and the humidity was a lot better than during the day.

They closed off some of the streets to motored traffic (although not to crazy tourists on push bikes!) so it was much easier to peruse the shops and restaurants. We wandered around the town for a while and then settled in at a popular little restaurant overlooking the sampans that were floating around the river lit by colourful lanterns.

Art for sale

There were lots of them taking tourists on rides up and down a short expanse of the river and they all looked very pretty.

Dinner was delicious spring rolls followed by chicken noodles for me and squid and noodles for Ross, all at rather less cost than the food here at the resort.

After dinner we moved onto the night market which was a couple of streets of stalls selling all the usual souvenirs and street food. There were some lovely chopsticks sets which I would have liked but, due to them being made mostly of wood and our flight home coming in at 2.00am, I decided that having to declare them to customs just wasn’t worth the hassle.

There were lots of people selling the rolled up icecream so we finally got to try it. It was really just a scoop of (I think) condensed milk mixed with fruit or flavouring, in our case, banana and blueberry, then they scrape it on an icy cold stainless steel tray. Not bad, but I wouldn’t bother again.

We ate our icecream and then continued on over the Japanese bridge to the other side of the river, walked around a bit more and then took our weary feet back to the resort. After walking over 11kms today we’re a bit tired.

Tomorrow we checkout of here and catch a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Fortunately not in the early morning this time.