We arrive in Saigon in the early afternoon where we meet a man (Minh) who is our guide for the days we are in the city (now known as Ho Chi Minh but commonly referred to as Saigon). He collects us in a mini van, taking us to the less-than-year-old and still sparkling Novotel (Saigon Centre).
Inside you could be in any hotel, in any city, but beyond the doors there's no mistaking we are in Vietnam. Just to cross the street, something you do in a considered fashion (unless you're local) slowly, slowly edging your way through traffic, predominantly motorbikes, is a practice we'll all have to master during this trip.
Our almost-two-year-old and one-day-off-four year-old's eyes were wide open and although they knew we were travelling to 'another country' they are, only now, associating these new sounds, smells and sights, the ordered chaos with the word "Vietnam."
The view from our breakfast table in the Novotel Saigon Centre. If there's no space on the road for your motorbike drive on the footpath.
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