After our first few crazy day trips out of Ho Chi Mihn, Rikki and I decided to spend the remainder of her time traveling wandering around the city. We started the slightly more relaxed portion of the trip by sleeping in for the first time since our arrival. It wasn't very hard to do, we were both exhausted. We woke up at a late ten in the morning and wandered out into the park just down the street from where we were staying. There we found some Vietnamese coffee to start the day with and spent an hour or so writing in our journals and just enjoying the birds, families, and life of the people there.
We then decided it was high time we got some serious shopping done and headed out to Bến Thành Market, one of the oldest and largest markets in the city. We had been warned several times to be very carful about our money and about what we bought there. Pick pockets and scammers filled the market and they were always on the hunt for silly white people to rip off and steal from. I guess all those folks took the day off the day we were there. Yes, we had to do a bit of bartering, and yes it was tight packed, but I felt no less safe then I do in any market in Korea.
It may have been that my senses were in maximum overdrive due to all the colors and patterns I encountered in the market. There were no two pieces alike and there were more patterns and colors then I have even known existed. I wanted all of it, and I had to work very had to not buy all of it. The prices were great, and everything was interesting and different. I bought too many pairs of pants, and too many dresses. Rikki got all of her souvenir shopping done, and I got most of mine finished. I honestly could have spent about ten times as much money there if I didn't have ten days left of my trip still.
We walked through the night market on the way back to the hostel, but it was pretty much the same as the day market, just outdoors. When we got to the hostel we had a few beers and passed out. The next day was Rikki's last day and we were both pretty worn out. We decided to just relax all day and left only to get food and water. I said goodbye to Rikki about eight that night and then I was on my own. I woke up pretty early the next day and showered. I wanted to be absolutely certain I didn't miss my flight to Đà Nẵng. I spent a few hours uploading the pictures I had taken so far to Facebook so I could open up some space on my camera, and to give people back home a bit of an update. The cab came late and then turned back halfway because the hostel called him to say they thought I had left something there though I hadn't and he wouldn't listen to me, which meant I arrived at the airport with only thirty minutes to get checked in and on board. Luckily for me the plane was running 30 minutes late. 
I finally got on the plane and an hour later arrived in Đà Nẵng, which was unfortunately not where I was staying for the night. I had hoped to take the bus to my hostel in Huế, but because the plane was so late, the last bus had left 10 minutes before the plane arrived. I now was aced with the choice of waiting until midnight at the train station, 4 hours from then, or taking a taxi to the other city, which was about two hours away. I was exhausted and didn't want to wait until two am to get into bed so I opted for the crazy cab ride. The driver was awesome and even had to pull over a few times to ask directions once we got in to the city. I gave him a big tip since he still had a two hour drive back ahead of him and then rolled into the not so pretty bunk bed i was staying in the next two nights and passed out.
