We decided that we would do our own thing on our last day. It was nice not having to be ready by a certain time but we still got up bright and early and headed to breakfast. We picked a few destinations that we wanted to see and got out at about 9am. About 30 seconds into our self-guided tour we were already derailed. Nicole spotted a store so we stopped in and bought a few things for our moms. We also stopped quite a bit at many of the art galleries that we came across. Vietnam and Ho Chi Min City in particular are well known for their art galleries. We noticed a wide range of work with some paintings being very good and others well...not so good. Unfortunately, we didn't really see anything that we loved or that would fit on our walls (all the paintings were huge!!) .
We kept walking and came to our first stop of the day, which we believe is Notre Dame Cathedral. It was very pretty but a little smaller than the one in Paris.
After the church we walked to Ben Than Market (the largest outdoor market in Ho Chi Minh). It was already scorching outside and we were wilting fast. On our way to the market, we stopped at a local store to get some water. Again, not knowing we were from NY, the woman tried to sell us $4 bottles. Mind you, we had dinner for two in Hanoi for $10. Chris looked at the woman like she had 10 heads and just walked out of the store.
We arrived at Ben Than Market and it was buzzing. We walked around and there were stalls upon stalls selling raw fish, meat, clothes, dried fruit, shoes, coffee, 
dried fish, trinkets, widgets - you name it and this place had it. They even had water for $1. We didn't last very long in the market because vendors were trying to get us to buy everything and the raw meat and dried fish mixture was slightly pungent. 
dried fish, trinkets, widgets - you name it and this place had it. They even had water for $1. We didn't last very long in the market because vendors were trying to get us to buy everything and the raw meat and dried fish mixture was slightly pungent. 
After the abbreviated market tour we headed back to the hotel for a much needed mid-day dip in the pool. We spent our last afternoon grabbing some lunch and walking around the Old Quarter looking for art work and souvenirs.
Following that, we headed back to the hotel and checked our glorious, all-comforting E-MAIL accounts -- how we missed them so.
There was nothing exciting about the Ho Chi Minh airport (trust us) so our Vietnam vacation report officially ends here.
