Each day we’ve been in Saigon we’ve found ourselves drawn to the little alleys that wind their way throughout the inner city.  Walking along the streets, these alleys suddenly open up in your peripheral vision – blink, and you’ll miss them.  They are wonderful to walk through – bringing you into close proximity with tiny hotels, shops, and residential apartments, and glimpses of everyday life – children practising the piano, families gathering on the front steps for a meal, washing drying on balconies, motorbikes zipping past, little dogs growling if you get too close to their territory. When approaching a corner you never know if you will come upon another alley, hit a dead end, or almost step through someone’s front door.

You may notice the proliferation of Vietnamese flags in the photos below – people are very patriotic here, but there were probably even more flags than usual since we were here over the holiday period celebrating the 1975 Reunification of North and South Vietnam.