This Place is a Zoo

It's hard to believe that yesterday was Valentine's Day.  Spending it walking around Saigon in the 95 degree heat certainly didn't feel like a the February holiday.

Kelly and I had a great day together yesterday walking around the city and going to the Vietnam zoo.  We really enjoy going to the zoo in a foreign country because it's very interesting to see the differences from zoos back home.  The biggest difference is how close the animals are and the short the fences.  I really can't believe how close they let people get to the animals.  The elephants couldn't have been more than 10 feet from us.  We watched people through fruit to them as they seemed to dance and bow in appreciation.  The monkeys were playing around and swinging from trees that were only separated from us by a small waterway.  I expected them to dart over to the nearby trees at any point and start stealing people's food.  It really was a cool experience and it cost us less just over $1 to get in!

The only drawback to the zoo was the scorching heat.  We both had sweat pouring from our bodies and felt some dehydration setting in despite drinking three containers of water.  We finished at the zoo we walked back to the center of the city to have lunch at Pho 2000.  It's a highly recommended Vietnamese restaurant that serves the traditional Vietnamese street dish of pho, a soup consisting of noodles made from rich, herbs and spices and meat.  I got the beef while Kelly enjoyed the chicken.  Eating soup with chopsticks is somewhat of a challenge and I'll admit to picking up a spoon a time or two but it is absolutely delicious.

Granted soup on a hot day may seem like an odd decision but it was totally worth it.