This is where they went from the Islands on way home. I think.Maxine Wilton willma@sprynet.com Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 2:30 PM Subject: Good Morning Viet Nam This morning our ship docked in the small port city of Phu My and by 8am most of the ship's passengers had departed on a caravan of buses for the one hour ride into Saigon. Sure, they changed the name to Ho Chi Min city a long time ago but the locals still prefer the older, more romantic name of Saigon. Thailand may be the land of elephants but this is definitely the land of motorcycles. Almost all of them were the smaller variety of Hondas. No big gas hogs here. They all had the small engine between 60 and 90 cc's and were all of the step-in variety, like a bike. As soon as we hit the main highway (no freeways here) it became apparent that we had stepped down into a third-world country. The country homes were built of bamboo with thatched roofs, things were not neat and clean, and the only traffic was trucks and motor cycles. Very few cars. To own one here you must really be rich. There wasn't even much traffic as we approached the city. As soon as we crossed the bridge over the Saigon River things got better. By that I mean that this big metropolis is open for business, communists or not. There are at least five five-star hotels and as many other tall buildings as one might expect of a city this size. Now we see more private cars as well as taxis, busses, trucks, and zillions of motorcycles. Everybody drives one except the poor people who are still stuck with their bicycles. Quite a few of those around the city as well. No subways.