Day 7 through Day 10 I was in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly called Saigon). I visited many sites and in the late afternoon and evening spent time with my friend, Ed Henry and his wife Trang. Ed has been living in Vietnam and the region for 15 years. He provides consulting services for American companies wanting to do business in Vietnam.
These pictures were taken on the day I rented a motorcycle and drove around Saigon like I lived there. As you can see from one of the pictures that the small motocycles are the primary mode of transportation throughout Vietnam and expecially in Saigon. As the country becomes more affluent I'm sure they will "upgrade" to a car just as the rest of the world has. I found the motorcycles a fun and practical way to get around and it was faster than driving a car around town. The Catheral of Notre Dame with the statue of the Virgin Mary is quite impressive. At the time of the US invasion of Iraq the statue "weeped" constantly for a week. No one has been able to figure out what caused it to do that.