I'm glad we didn't miss Saigon

It now seems quite a time ago, Saigon (as the locals still prefer to call it) was our first sign of some real Asian heat with daytime temperatures reaching just high enough for us to really need our cheeky little afternoon naps.

We arrived on the overnight train (a somewhat quieter affair than previous trips allowing a reasonable amount of sleep) at 5.30am, the taxi ride through a waking city was quite remarkable as within the 30 mins it took we saw darken deserted street come to life with mopeds, cleaners, vendors and all kinds of folk practicing their thai chi in the parks. We had some fun with the taxi driver into the city, with the first wanting to charge us $10 and then the second telling us to ignore what the meter said and to give him $3 (3 times the $1 we eventually paid after sticking with the meter and lot's of tutting!!)


Me doing my hot tortoise impression

We sat wearily on a park bench for a while to catch our breaths and then headed to drop our bags at the cute homestay / guesthouse that was our base for 3 nights. In order to make the most of the city we then headed out to explore, taking in 3 of the main sights before an ice cream lunch.

Saigon is a good place to learn a lot about the Vietnam war(s) and we feasted on museums and palaces explaining how the Vietnamese coped with the events and one particular museum display which detailed the work of the war reporters / photographers many of whom perished whilst trying to bring the true stories out of the middle of the fracas! It was very interesting to hear some of their comments about why anyone would do such a job and indeed whether they should even be there. there were also numerous tales of these "civilians" leading rescue parties once separated from their main groups.


The "War Command Centre" complete with matching phones for ladies!


The underground government bunker even had it's own cinema - old school projector room

Continuing the edutainment we headed out on a little trip on the follwoing day (complete with the obligatory stops at the government run jade / lacquerware / silk factory on the way and way back.) It was a boggling mix of war and peace, the main destination was the Cu Chi tunnels which the Vietnamese used to hide during the conflict with a side trip to a temple that is the base for Caodaism which is a great religion that is a mix of Christianity, Buddhism and Taosim and has Victor Hugo as one of it's saints!!


Altar at the temple


Monks and nuns entering for worship - the different colours represent each parent religion


Lots of sitting nuns

Despite the slightly rushed tour of the tunnel complex, it was an fascinating place to visit. We got to see how everyday tasks were carried out whislt hiding as well as some of the more horrendous traps they set for the US forces. The real experience was a short stretch of tunnel which had been cleaned up of creepy crawlies yet still gave a very hot and claustrophobic sense of what is was like to live in the tunnels...we lasted about a minute before heading up for air!!


A non-tourist tunnel entrance


Hot and cramped

On our third day we decided to shift down the gears a little and visit a beach island / outcrop which was so great that we have both forgotten the name...half an hour walk to one of the worst beaches I have been to...you live and learn!!

To ready ourselves for the trip into Cambodia we rounded off Vietnam with a nice meal in a restaurant where you barbeque your own food on a little hotplate in the middle of the table...I have to say that the chef did our little beef skewers to perfection.


Our Chef