Then we split up and while AJ went to the Traditional Chineese Medicin Museum, we wanted to see the War Remnants Museum. And walked there. Through the hot streets. Only to find out that the museum closes from 12 - 2 pm. Every day. Yes, that is also what the travel guides said. Alright. So, we changed plans and went to see the Ben Thanh Market. It was supposed to be close by and hopefully not as crazy as the Chinese Market Hall we had seen the other day... At one intersection we asked a coconut seller for the way... which prompted him to walk with us a while, Dodo carrying the coconut boxes, and then the guy started to open a coconut for us - and another one. And then asked for 150 VND. Normally those things do not cost more than 20 VND... no comment. It was cold and sweet and our own fault in the end.
It did not take too long to find the market - and you could literally buy everything there: food, clothes, souvenirs - you name it. Only a few minutes later I was the owner of a pair of new, really cute sandals (I was actually looking for flipflops, since mine had given up during the rain on Tuesday, but they all were either not fitting right or not pretty) - bringing the price down from 800 VND to 400 VND. Again it amazed me, how desperate they are trying to sell their stuff - but I´m pretty sure it still was a good deal for them. At the clothes booth the guys must have tried on about 10 shirts each. At least it took a while. Either the color or the size was not right - but the ladies were soooo very patient and always managed to find another size/color somewhere among their crammed booths. We decided for six shirts - and the lady came up with 1.800 VND for a start. I began with about 800 and made it up to 1.000 - which I told her was my last offer. When she would not accept, I said to walk on... the lady came after us, offered 1.200 and the guys gave in and got the shirts - 7 EUR / shirt - perfectly acceptable. It was now time for the museum anyway - and we made it in there right before the next heavy rain could soak us.
It was pretty shocking what we learned about the Vietnam War - especially about the Agent Orange Victims - about 3 Million people. The worst thing about it, is probably that the Dioxin does not disintegrate and stays in the soil - so through water and food people even nowadays will not knowingly get in touch with small amounts. So even today new Agent Orange victims are born.
After the disturbing facts and pictures we made our way to the tailor - to try on our new clothes. Again we spend about one hour there, but not all of our clothes were ready yet - the girls were still sewing on buttons here and there, ... While afterwards the others went to get a massage (I wanted to save that experience up for Thailand) I went to the hotel and for the first time checked the travel guide for this very next destination.
For dinner we went to Quan Nuong - which I highly recommend. Sitting on the rooftop we were treated with a vietnamese BBQ. The grill was integrated in the tables - so everyone could fry and prepare their meat however they liked. Since this was our last night in Saigon we decided to go dancing - according to Lonely Planet Apocalypse Now was the "in"-place to go. When getting there, it was not exactly crowded - and you could very well differentiate between waiters (blue hawaii shirts), security (all in black clothing) and a whole bunch of girls who pretty sure were prostitutes. After a few (pricy) drinks we left the place and found a cute roof top bar close to our hotel instead. We could wish for our favorite music, tried banana vodka on the bars tab and met a bunch fellow travelers.
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