Saigon strolling.

8/5 - Off to sort out my flight dates today, they are all way out of line, except for the Sydney one, you can tell this is my first time travelling, my estimates were way out. I used my head and took a moto there, but didn't use my head and change them when they asked for $15 admin. It was free on the phone to Bangkok. It'll probably cost me $30 to phone now.
I was going to walk to the Aussie consulate and sort out my visa, but decided to use my head again.... OH OH. I phoned them. It takes a fortnight to process. That saved me a walk, so I ended up by the Saigon river, for yet another caphe da. This is a big port, I hadn't realised. There are some big ships in here and a lot of them, like Liverpool used to be I suspect. (look out, here comes the grumpy old man). The 2 nearby ferries give it some stick, back and forth across the river and a couple of hydrofoils whizzed passed. It is a busy old river. There are not many touts here either, although that may change in the evening. A couple of nice Vietnamese men came over for a chat. One is looking to buy a yacht. I guess he earns a few bob. He is off to Plymouth soon to check out a factory. I wonder if it is to close it down and move the work, or for some friendly joint venture. They insisted taking my photo for me with the river in the background, which was friendly. I headed back towards town, stopping in the shade whenever the sun came out. I managed to shake off a persistent moto man and was getting a bit peckish, so stopped at a street corner vendor to pick up something I hadn't tried. I don't know what it is, but it looks OK. Poly bag in hand, I went looking for a perch. Some young man sat on a low windowsill/pavement, so I went and joined him. He motioned me to shuffle along, so I couldn't be seen from inside. It is friendly around here. Another lad came and joined our perch. It looks like I have picked a popular spot. The 2 lads lay down and nodded off, so I got stuck into my food. The sauce looks like giant tapioca. I must have been a pretty sight, because a bloke over the road took my photo. Me being the friendly sort, I waved, which made him and his mates smile. The food turned out to be banana fritters and tapioca and it went down very nicely thank you. The lads from across the road came over for a natter, intrigued I think. The Vietnamese plonk down and eat or sleep anywhere and dont draw a second glance, some gangly, bald Mackem sits down and everyone stares. I suppose I do stand out a bit. Eventually, I wandered off in the direction of the hotel, until I recognised I was headed towards the river, wrong way. The more I look at maps, the worse I get. I got a moto back, it is safer and went for a power nap. I don't know why I bother, something usually wakes me after about 10 minutes, probably my snoring.
I thought I'd head for the park and do some catch up with the log, so I found myself a shady spot and was joined by a persistent, canny, old bloke, who wanted money, but being a tight-fisted git, I never handed any over. He wasn't moving though, so I moved on and did a bit of blog catch up instead. I remembered my laundry and visa extension too, so went off to pick them up. It is a hard old life, but I consoled myself with a beer on the way back to drop them off. A lady outside an Italian/Vietnamese restaurant has been chatting and smiling everytime I walked passed, so I thought I'd go and eat there. I'm an easy target. A couple of glasses of wine and a beer and I'm half cut, so thought I'd better go back in case I get chatted up and don't spot the meat and 2 veg, although, I have only seen 1 ladyboy, since I have been in Vietnam.
Goodnight.