We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HCM) on Wednesday afternoon where we met our new tour guide for the remainder of our tour. John is at Vietnamese man who lives in Saigon which is what the locals refer to as HCM. He speaks English very well and is very charismatic. The rest of the day was settling into our hotel - The Royal Lotus - and a relatively early night as we had an early start in the morning.

Next day, Thursday, we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels which are fairly close to Saigon. This is where the North Vietnamese used as a base to attack Saigon. It was really interesting and we saw the types of booby traps they laid against the South Vietnamese and the American soldiers. The entrances to the tunnel system were very well camouflaged and Brad had a go at lowering himself into one of the holes. Next, another of the group, Andrew also tried however he is a bit larger than Brad and got stuck around the middle. It reminded me of Pooh Bear getting stuck - hilarious. We both had a go at firing an AK-47 assault rifle but I don`t think we hit the target at all.

After the Cu Chi Tunnels we drove to have a quick look at a rubber plantation, then went to visit a Cao Dei temple which appears to be a mixture of several religions. Buddhism were those dressed in yellow, Hindus in blue and Catholic (Christianity) in red. We arrived just as a mass was starting which we were able to observe for about 10 minutes. The temple itself is the most colourful if not somewhat bizarre building I have ever seen. I think I will let the photos do the explaining.

At the end of the tour that day we tried Vietnamese coffee which has a wonderful flavour and I shall look for it when we get back to Australia.

A couple of things we have observed in Saigon. 1. Everyone rides motorbikes and there must be about 2 million on the road at once - traffic is chaotic. 2. The power cables are the biggest mess you have ever seen - but the internet seems to work fine.

Next stop tomorrow is the Mekong Delta.