Day 2: Wed 8 Feb - Saigon

Temp: 32 feels like 39, although after the humidity we’ve been getting at home lately it’s rather pleasant. 

Despite my late night I was up with the sparrows as usual and it felt good to have the room to do my morning exercise routine.  After unpacking and sorting I went up on the 10th floor for a lovely Vietnamese breakfast. 

After mucking around with my e-sim (Wendy would have fixed it for me) without success I went out for a walk around the neighbourhood. The Odys Boutique Motel is located not far from the central markets, not that I’ll be doing anything about that. But it’s fairly central.  

The city hasn’t changed and I’m now wondering why I come so many days before the bike ride. Once I settle in I will explore more.  I did grab a bit to eat while I was wandering; a Vietnam version of Maccas; nothing brilliant but then again it was only $2.50 so can’t complain.  

Finally decided to try the chat line to sort out the e-sim and initially was talking to a computer. Didn’t get far there but pretty soon a real person started texting me. Took about 20 minutes and it was all fixed; it was a setting in the data roaming. I’m glad I persisted otherwise it would have been a waste of $99.  Not that I’m going to need it as there’s free wifi absolutely everywhere, but it might come in handy.  

The Motel puts on “High Tea” every day so I went to check it out; on the top floor where I had breakfast. Well I gave it a shot; let’s say I won’t be rushing back anytime soon.  In my humble opinion one of the key ingredients of high tea is tea.  The tea was cold and it had been stewing in the pot for ages, so it was also bitter. The cakes had seen better days but the pieces of fruit were nice. Hey they tried, can’t ask for more than that.  I will write them some feedback privately.  

The first of the team arrived today, Kev from Canberra. I’ve been touring with Kev for about 20 years and it’s great to see him again.  We’ve also raced together on the bikes. Had a drink with him on the top bar and then I had dinner. He’d been fed all day on the plane so he didn’t need to eat.  

                The outside of Ody

Walking around is not easy when most of the footpaths are motorcycle parking spaces or extensions of shops. 

  The external wall of the art gallery which I will visit soon

Looks great at night but then looks can be deceiving 

My $2.50 lunch 

The foyer of my motel
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