We got the bus to Vietnam on Wednesday 27 May, from Phenomphen ( the town I find hard to spell). We left about 2pm and the journey took around 8hrs, but was very comfortable as we were on the luxury bus. We managed to negociate a small discount as we bought our visas and other bus journey from the same travel agent. They were very strict at the border, we had to have our temperatures taken before we could get across. They are getting more strict everywhere now because of swine flu. Its lucky Alan wasn't ill until the next day or we could have had problems.

When we arrivedin Saigon (now called Ho Chi Mihn city) we found a guesthouse at a cheap price. It was basically an old couple's house; they lived in the room downstairs and rented the upstairs ones to foreigners. It made us feel bad about coming back late because we'd have had to wake them up. The room was good though, and we had a tv with sports channels. We went out for a quick dinner the stayed up in our room to watch the Champion's League final. We ended up going to bed about 4am.

At 6am the next morning Alan woke up with a migraine so I went out in search of medicine. The old couple downstairs were already up and the streets were really busy which I found surprising. I managed to get some medicine and we stayed in the room for most of the day sleeping and being sick (Alan). It was a bit of a write off day, although we did go out later for food and internet. The traffic in the city is absolutely crazy, and it was difficult crossing the road in one piece.

On Friday we got up and set out to look round the city. First we went to the Palace which was a bit strange. It looked like a hotel, and it has been left exactly as it was when it was stormed by the north army. The were a lot of empty rooms to look at and bunkers in the cellar. After that we went to the War Remnants museum. It is mostly photographs from the war, a lot of it was very graphic. There were a lot of photos of agent orange victims. It was quite upsetting, but interesting.

When we came out of the museum it was pouring with rain but we had come prepared with kags. People were still trying to sell us waterproofs even though we were wearing them. Alan bought some new flipflops from the market with he haggled for quite well. In the market it was a bit crazy with women grabbing us trying to make us by jeans and new clothes. In the evening we went for a pizza it was super tasty. We are having cheap days so far in Vietnam which is good.

The next day we planned to do an excursion to the Chu Chi tunnels. We were told this would et us back to Siagon by about 3pm, and we planned to get a bus to the next destination at 3.30pm if possible.

We hd to get on the bus at 8am to go to the tunnels. They were about an hours drive away. Our guide was a bit of a character, very polically incorrect but probably did it on prpose to amuse tourists. It was quite funny though. We stopped on the way at a handicraft factory where victims of ageng orange worked.

When we got to the tunnels we were shown a video explaining how they were sued during the Vietnam war, and our guide also gave us some background infomation. Then he took us to a jungle clearing and asked us to spot the tuneel entrance. None of us could; it was hidden under a pile of leaves. This was an authentic tunnel, very small and dark and bat-infested. I didn't fancy it but Alan crawled though, taking photos to light up the way. It was very muddy in there.

We then looked around the different bunkers they used to use, and saw the different types of bamboo traps they hid in the jungle to trap Americans. Our guide described how the tunnels were made really small, and the Americans would be too fat to get down. There were also booby traps in the tunnels. He described American women as "waterbuffalo".

After that we had a go on the shooting range and fired a M60. It was very loud and we were not very accurate. Then our guide took us to the long tunnel. It was 200m long, but had been enlarged slighty for westerners, and some lights had been put in. It was slight pretty unpleasent, but we both went through this time. It was very cramped, but at least there were no bats. Bonus.

We had fried noodles for lunch before heading back to Saigon. By the time we got back it was too late to catch our bus, but we booked one for the morning to Nha Trang, leaving at 8am. We relaxed in the evening, and went to KFC as a special treat. We then packed up and got an early night as we were leaving in the morning.