"#9 Very Lucky number" according to Minh our tour guide

The main river branches off into numerous smaller rivers

First fisherman of the day

View from the bus...Welcome to the Mekong River Delta

We left very early in the morning on March 24th to travel 80 kms for our up close and personal
look at the Mekong River.
The main river as you can see is quite large/ wide
Thankfully we took a small river boat for our (almost) day long cruise
Please enjoy the following photos of that experience!

"Welcome to Sai Gon" drink at the Hotel Pullman
Can someone tell me why my ice cube
is blue?!

Our lovely room
Angle #1

Angle # 2

View of the city

Opera House Saigon
French Colonial architecture
Custom built  in 1897

"Stove Pipe" house and store front
"Mortgage is for square footage of main floor, bank doesn't care how
tall or how many stories a house has"
This could be an apartment style or even a single family dwelling
Notice the lack of windows...not my kind of home

Sai gon post office
 (Government buildings are always yellow)
There are clerks here who provide literacy services for those who do not
read / write
All these buildings share the same square

Notre-Dame Basilica of Saigon
Built by the French between 1863 and  1880

Famous rooftop that Americans were plucked from by helicopters during the final exodus from Saigon  on

April 30, 1975

Huge lotus plant "that once the rainy season comes will be put back in the river"
Cool!

Is this in the 'Bird of Paradise' family?

Rubber tree plantation
Very important export according to Minh

After the unique experience of the tunnels it's time to
get back to the sun, food, flowers and friendship of this tour
This is the riverside restaurant that we had lunch at...did you know that the
Saigon river is tidal?

Orchids...gorgeous...on the way back to Saigon and hotel which we have not
seen yet

Trumpet flower
Look familiar? They also grow in Costa Rica