Crashing the baby gathering, the peacock and relentless groping

So we start our next entry from where we left off last night. We were off having dinner in Dong Khoi Street and relaxing after a pretty hot day (which is normal). We started to walk up toward the old french opera house and colonial meeting hall which both look very nice at night. While on our way we decided to stop at a fountain where there was a tonne of people hanging out, it wasn't until we got a bit closer that we realised it was a mass baby gathering of at least 50 babies just walking around and playing together with balloons! Lauren was in heaven, she thinks they are much cuter than normal Australian babies and had contemplated taking one or even 10 a few times. One baby in particular had a fascination with me and Lauren thinks it was actually my fault whenever she looked at me she started crying. I blame it on the irresistible looks, however maybe babies arent fully developed enough to appreciate the looks like the people in the market stalls do.

Onto today, as it was our last day today we decided to just have a last look around Ben Thanh Market and a stroll along Dong Khoi and surrounding streets. First was Ben Thanh Market, which to sum it up reminds me of a rabbit warren with all in laneways that are no wider than my torso and the fact that every stall you walk past they either grab your arm, shoulder, back or anything in general that is in their reach. They also have a fascination with pinching Lauren's arms, to the point where she was inches away from pinching back (or more like punching back)!

After we left Dong Khoi street we decided to go for a drink atop the Rex Hotel rooftop terrace bar which for some reason is high on the list of things to do in HCMC. Lauren read somewhere that it was only worth having one drink as it can be on the expensive side, and as we found out that tended to be the case. Let me put this in perspective, a beer in the restaurant we had dinner and even the hotel bar/restaurant were selling the same beer for 20,000 VND (just under a dollar), however atop the garden terrace bar (which was not as nice as it was hyped up to be and pretty crappy views of the city which is expected seen as though it was only on the 5th floor) it cost me for one beer 115,000 VND (just under $6)!

So that brings us to now, we are just about to have dinner at the hotel because we need to leave around 6pm to head off to the train station to board our 9-10 hour train to the seaside town of Nha Trang. We've stocked up on snacks as the sausage and bread offered with the fare probably wont fill me (or even the rats we saw yesterday, yes there were rats in the street).

We will post again next time we have internet which will hopefully be sometime tomorrow when we will update you on how the train journey went. Until then stay safe and have fun.
Kristian & Lauren.