I Can't Stop! Even More Vietnam Pictures

We took a 5 hour van ride back to Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon). On the way our driver was playing Kenny G's Christmas Special. It's August mind you and we do love our Christmas music but the amount it's overplayed during the holiday season does take all year to recover from. So some from our group were getting a little testy. We asked what CDs he had and found a good one. But about 10 minutes later, as 2 of the 7 of us fell asleep, he took that CD right out and put his Kenny G's "It's a Blazing Hot Christmas" back in for the next 4 hours. I found it a little funnier than everyone else.

I wish I had a better picture. Complete families ride their little motorcycles all over town. We saw many with 5, even 6 people, on one bike - including babies.
The French controlled Vietnam for many years and thus a heavy Roman Catholic influence. This is the Ho Chi Minh Notre Dame Cathedral.
Inside included many Vegas-style neon statues.
This room in the Saigon National Palace was where the Vietnam War officially ended. The peace signs seem fitting but really we were just being dorks from Japan who feel compelled to raise the two fingers in all pictures.
A ritual where birds are freed to gain merit at the Phuoc Hai Tu pagoda and temple.