Bargains and Buffalos

Ho Chi Minh City is in the middle of a major construction project to build a city railway, most of it underground.  

As streets are closed and narrowed this just adds to the chaos.

On my way into the city there is a massive development.  I think may be a station.   

Ever changing,  the bridge over the Saigon river frequently has people stopped, watching as the huge cargo barges slip quietly by.

Saigon River

Unless in or on a building, the view from the bridge is as close as I will get to a mountain.  A good view looking back to my current home.

Under the sign on the crane, my home

Camera on board I had a few more random moments in my day.  After a lunch time swim I was in need of quick sustenance.  

Street food

Delicious bánh mi. Fried eggs cooked  while I waited, laced with chilli sauce and eaten sat on a small plastic stool, drinking iced tea.

Not one to ‘shop till I drop’  I occasionally need to buy stuff and while the markets are fun trying to find specifics can be time consuming and tiresome.  My Vietnamese tutor was enlisted to find ‘leech socks’, needed for a trip north.

So, joy, there is a hiking shop in HCMC!  In the UK my creditcard can run riot in such an outlet.  Here, well check your labels and see how much of your kit is actually made here.  Mammumt hiking pants, leech socks and small North Face bag.  Total a little over £15. 

The final photo of the day.  Taking a different way home.  

Grazing among the pylons, I found some cows!