First impressions

Arriving at midnight at least meant the immigration and currency formalities were quickly dealt to. Then came the trip in to town.

Now I'd been doing lots of reading about the taxi scams, and sure enough it played out exactly like the guide books say.

How much to the Yellow House Hotel?
$20 (USD)
Too much - should only be 50,000 dong (about $3, start low)
Not enough - night rates - points to clock. 200,000 dong
Too much - I open the door to get out of the taxi
Ok - 150,000 dong
Ok - let's go (Fiona had been waiting at the hotel long enough, and there weren't many more taxis around)

Then followed the chaotic trip in to town. Motos everywhere - even at that time. Overtaking on yellow lines, blasting the horn to get the motos out of the way, cutting in, running red lights - all part of a night's work for this driver. Perhaps he had to rush because I hadn't paid him enough.

But we made it, and Fiona came out of the hotel to greet me. Great seeing my long lost daughter again after 8 months. We've got the whole day together to catch up and explore HCM before she returns to Cambodia tomorrow and I fly up to Hanoi.

But now we're off to the markets to buy a replacement watch - Nik broke mine just before I left. More soon - others are waiting to use the computer.