After a few farewells to some of our tour party and those carrying on to Bangkok we awaited the arrival of Roger a friend of Robin,our best man, who also comes from Stourbridge and whose nephew and niece went to the school where Kate first taught. He now lives and works in Saigon and he walked us around the city showing us bits we would have missed by ourselves. We passed the French consulate,an old colonial building,right next door to the US consulate,the old embassy having been demolished and rebuilt. All the embassies have moved to Hanoi. Next was the British council and consulate looking like a small block of flats. At the post office Roger pointed out a flat roof upon which the CIA made their escape which is another iconic photo from 1975. Next to the post office is an innocuous building but back then was a notorious police station. On a lighter note we then passed the Town Hall,a massive structure recently painted that overlooks a not quite finished thin garden that leads to the river. A statue of uncle Ho is under wraps until the 30th when the communists will be celebrating but probably not the locals. After a stroll along the river we headed back past the Opera house,another glorious colonial building and Roger showed us the spot where the Vietcong suspect was shot in the head in yet another iconic photo of that era. By now we were in need of refreshment and found a bar overlooking a park and the cathedral and had a couple of welcome beers. They were double the normal price but we kept on getting ice cold cups of Vietnamese tea so we didn't mind too much.
In the evening some of us went to the Saigon branch of Koto,the restaurant in hanoi that helps disadvantaged kids . It was just as good as that one and was probably the best two meals we've had in Vietnam.