First impressions of Saigon

I know it is December 20, but there are way more Christmas decorations than I expected to see here.

The most noticeable thing you see walking around here is the traffic.  There are buses, cabs, a handful of private cars, and a million motorbikes.  The rules of the road are very fluid.  The motorbikes just interweave in all directions, and somehow the vehicles do also.  So they turn left into and across the oncoming traffic and everyone just goes around.  Crossing the street is an adventure, too.  You just start walking and the vehicles go around you, too.  This is one of those places where red lights and do not enter signs are just suggestions.  The motorbikes go everywhere, including on the sidewalk if the traffic on the road stops for a second.  On Saturday night, every motorbike had a family of two to four people including little babies.  The streets were so crowded, it seemed like a never ending parade.

Traveling in the 21st century ....  I was getting hungry but did not want to just stop at a random restaurant.  Of course I want to go somewhere "authentic," but too authentic is too strange and difficult.  Probably no English menu.  And non-authentic is certainly comfortable.  Then I remembered I had downloaded one guidebook onto my kindle.  I sat down and pulled it out and looked up the recommended restaurants.  One seemed the right mix of authentic and accessible, but I couldn't find it on the little map the hotel had given me.  Then I remembered I had my cel phone with me.  I pulled it out and discovered I was in a free wi-fi spot.  So I pulled up google maps and found the restaurant was only a few blocks away.  Wish this story had a better ending, but the "restaurant" was way too authentic for me, if it was a restaurant at all.  There was a lot of food in a case and a lot of people standing around, but I saw no where to sit down and no one eating.  So I gave up, continued walking, and went into a random restaurant that was quite good.

I had eaten early but went later to check on someplace else in the guidebook.  There is a huge, indoor public market.  After it closes in the evening, they set up street food on the adjacent streets.  I thought that meant carts or food trucks.  Nope.  They set up entire restaurants with tents, tables, chairs, burners, and barbeques.  It takes about an hour to set them up and they stay packed all evening.