Ho Chi Minh City

I am on the final night of two weeks in Ho Chi Minh City. I love this place for it's dirtiness, noise and 'ordered' chaos. Where do all the bikes come from - I am convinced there is a factory somewhere that spits them out in vast quantities on major roadways and at major intersections.
My first week was a work week where I stayed in a five star hotel, got waited on hand and foot, and trudged off every morning to an airconditioned office. I had to cross two major roads to get there and that was at least hair-raising! I have never seen so many small motorbikes, cheek by jowl, 10 wide and 10 deep - and there's me trying to cross the road between them all without getting flattened.
The second week started when I finished work about lunch time on Saturday and Simon arrived.
For the first time in my life I did a tour - ouch! It made me feel like an old lady. We were herded onto a bus, driven along merrily to our stop, hunted out of the bus to gawk at the poor hapless 'peasants' making / doing something and get hassled to buy things, and then repeat! There were a few variations - herded onto a boat instead of a bus, for example. We saw 'traditional' coconut candy being made, 'traditional' rice noodle manufacture, listened to 'traditional' music and singing, visited a minority village (the Cham people), visited a fish farm and an orchard, and all where the people were paid between 25,000 and 30,000 Vietnam Dong per day (about AUD $1.75 to $2.00 at current exchange rate) - so they don't quite fit the definition of living in absolute poverty.
It is sad to see the large number of small children selling things and working with their parents rather than going to school. We visited the Cai Rang floating market on a Monday and almost all the boats from the rural areas had small children on them who should have been at school. Makes the difference between the haves and have nots here seem all the more stark, because the have nots don't even have a basic education - and so continues the vicious cycle.
No photos yet - have no way to download them off the camera - so they'll come later.