Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital

To start with - I'm fine, parents don't worry.

But I do have conjunctivitis in my right eye. I had a bit of trouble getting my right contact lens out last week and thought that I may have left a bit in my eye as it's been irritating me. We tried to get some opticians to look in my eye to check but funnily enough the phrase book wasn't of much help....

So we wandered up to the HCMC eye hospital yesterday. Total organised chaos is the only way of describing it. People were milling around, shouting, shoving, pushing everywhere. But I was seen and discharged with 2 prescription eye drops in about 10 minutes. Absolutely amazing and all for about 8 pounds! (and no - there was no bit of contact lens in my eye)

HCMC is a hectic place in general. It doesn't have as much charm as Hanoi. HCMC is much more commericalised and feels more like Bangkok - there are billboards, hawkers, traffic and noise everywhere and there's alot of suburban sprawl on the outskirts. Saying that it's got some lovely old buildings and some interesting museums, but I still prefer Hanoi. We're staying in the backpacker district - which means we're probably hassled more than elsewhere in the city, but it's much cheaper and the hotel we're staying in is great - although it is the second hotel we've been in since we've arrived. The first was really awful, but since it was the only thing open when we fell out of the sleeper train at 5.30 in the morning, we had no choice! Still, we moved on once the other hotels had opened and we could find something else.

Some Stats.

Population of HCMC - 7 million.
Number of scooters - 5 million.
Number of scooters who have asked if we want a lift - 4.5 million (approx)