Last day in Saigon

Wednesday March 10th

Walked to Botanic gardens, which had a zoo in them. Orang utang's are clever enough to refuse cigarettes from passing Vietnamese. The old French gardens had matured with enormous trees shading the walks. Our favourite animals were the twin wattled cassowary and the giant hornbill.

Then into a suave cafe at the base of the oil company tower next door to cool off, and back into the gardens to visit the History Museum. Beautiful french colonial building filled with Vietnamese artifacts thoughtfully presented in chronological order.

If the Americans had ever given credibility to the history of these people they would have realised that a thousand years tradition of repelling invaders was unlikely to be overturned.

Walked to the Jade Emperor Pagoda and found it eventually, an interesting Buddhist/Taoist temple having more in common with a fairground ghost house than a religious establishment.

Tired, so took taxi back to hotel, then another one to the old Majestic Hotel on the riverside where we supped our ritual beers in the rooftop bar as the light faded over the busy riverscape beneath.