May 2 Saigon

Arrived early morning in Ho Chi Minh City, still called Saigon by the locals.

The ship sailed 4 hrs up the narrow bendy Saigon river, 50 miles(80km) from the sea, and then making a neat circle turn to park at the port, and ready to sail out the next day.. At times, it was difficult to imagine that the channel was deep enough for the ship.
We had an excursion that took us out for the day. Hopped on a bus, that took us not to far down the road, where we boarded medium sized high speed motor boats.
Almost immediately, we forgot about the 96 degree temperature with a zillion humidity level. Skipped over the waves for about an hour before getting out and touring a local market.
Back in the boat, and fed different goodies along the way,
and traveling again at 45km an hour, went another half hour or so, before stopping to visit a park, where we stepped into small row boats, in mangrove forests,
where we saw Saffron Bats sleeping (hopefully sleeping, but they were making a lot of noise). During the Vietnam war, which they call the American war, the forests had been decimated with agent orange. Most of the mangroves needed to be replanted by hand.
Continued back in the speed boat to another park, where we had lunch,
and then walked on to visit wild Long Tailed monkeys
Because it had been a holiday, the monkeys had already been well fed by hoards of locals that had come to visit, so they were not desperate for our food.
and finally crocodiles.
There were also towers to climb, which is something I'm always compelled to do....and without too much struggling and panting, thank God.
Look at me! I took a selfie, and no liquor imbibed (drunk from the heat, instead).
This managed to take up most of the entire day, and for the most part, we were in the shade with breezes. But 5 minutes in the sun, and Michael was dying and ready to collapse.
But somehow, he survived and after we had a quick dinner on the ship, and with almost the entire boat ful,
left on a fleet of buses, for the evening entertainment.
Before the show, there was an artisan park to walk through.
Here are a few video clips. Actually, if they don't show up today, please look again tomorrow. Some might even be worth seeing. They include 3 jungle clips where you can hear the bats screeching, and with a large enough screen and enough squinting, you might also be able to see the bats.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3vAPe1Mdi6qFzhi4A

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