The next morning, finally being able to stomach something again we had breakfast very early on the boat. A sumptuos feast consisting of a huge baguette, plenty of fruit and vietnamese coffee (coffee with condensed milk) carried as along the Mekong towards the floating market where we arrived around 7 AM. Unfortunately the floating market had pretty much almost finished and all that was left were several long boats covered in the remaining product and a smaller boat here and there buying the last of the necessities. We sailed a little further onwards to disembark at the local street market. A wide covered expanse with stalls everywhere, sorted by the their types of products. We spent quite awhile sauntering past all the stalls. We found all sorts of stuff including a pretty disturbing moment when we saw a lady skinning frogs... alive. The geese, all tied up together didn't look to happy either. Still the wide variety of stuff available was pretty amazing.

From the street market we departed, again with our boat, and headed to two incredibly commercialised 'demonstration' shops. One we visited gave us some tea, we could see how they made honey and we had the opportunity to buy incredibly ugly souvenirs... yay! The next shop was slightly better. They showed us how they make rice pancakes, rice wine and rice crackers (which is basically rice used as popcorn mashed together) and again loads and loads of souvenirs. Exactly the same as the previous one shop ofcourse.

After this last visit we headed back to our homestay where we had lunch while taking instructions on how to proceed with our mission for the day of reaching Ho Chi Minh City (saying going only to Ho Chi Minh, we learned, is somewhat odd as that's the name of the fine fellow who led the Vietnamese to independance). Having taken all the instructions to heart and accepted the note which we were admonished to show the driver at our destination we were escorted by two staff members across the ferry and practically into the van which was to bring us to the bus. An uneventful busride onwards terminated in some far off bus station at the extreme outskirts of HCMC leaving us somewhat dejected at having to find a means of transport into the city proper. We were about to wander off in search of some sort of taxi when Q remembered the note we were given which we promptly presented to the busdriver. Some jabbering and pointing followed by extremely confused looks on our side led to an exhasperated sigh and a beckoning for us to follow him. He led us to a small van, stuffed us inside and told us to wait... very exciting and hopefully in the right direction. We had to wait for a few more people but as soon as the van was filled up we were delivered to the absolute center of town. Exhausted by now and it was still raining we decided to go for the luxury of a taxi (and to forstall the hassle of actually having to find the address.. we'd forgotten to save the map, whoops). We were dropped of at a thoroughly eerie and dark passage way. If not for the sign saying the hotel was at the end. I'm not sure we would have stepped in, but the neon lights beckoned and we did indeed find the hotel at the end. The hotel, Little Saigon Boutique, despite it's somewhat odd location, was again surprisingly good for it's price. After some time to account for recovery of our last journey combined with awhile to find a place to eat we opted for something around the corner. Even Q thought it was time for a change and we opted for burgers at Soul Burgers. The place was pretty sweet, though hard to find if you weren't actually looking for it. The burgers were surprisingly good too... but after this heavy meal we decided to go to bed early for a change to have more than enough time for the city the next day.

For some reason or another we had trouble getting up the next day... this travel stuff is exhausting! After a quick breakfast downstairs which we only just made in time, judging by what was left, we set off on our improvised walking tour through the colonial heart of Saigon. We passed by the cathedral and french post office, opera house before already stopping for quick bite to eat at KFC (our first fastfood on the trip)! Onwards from KFC we headed to the 2nd tallest building, not quite sure why we'd included that, the Zoo and the most popular Chinese temple at the moment. We did have the slight snafu of a heavy rainstorm forcing us to shelter along the way. The most interesting part of the temple were the gazillions of turtles in the pond outside, but after half an hour or so we were ready to move on. As luck would have it a taxi dropped of a group right as we stepped up as if Buddha had rewarded us for visiting one of his abodes! Next up was the War Remnants Museum, formerly known as the Museum of US and Puppet War Crimes. The minute we walked in it started pooring rain with heavy thunder, again as if Buddha knew it ;) A thoroughly one sided but pretty exhaustive presentation of the Vietnam War, including a pretty amazing photo gallery. We were slightly late for the Reunification Palace which apparently closed ridiculously early. After freshening up at the hotel we set off again for a one of the best (according to tripadvisor) Vietnamese restaurants, Mountain Retreat. Downside to the restaurant, 5 flights of stairs; upside, it looked amazing and we had the best place of the house on the front balcony. The food was really good as well which, let's be honest, we had earned after all those stairs.

Not sure what it was, but our stomach's definitely didn't agree with something. Food, even sometimes for us, is not good :(

The next day we set off on a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels. On impulse we went with a small group at a slightly higher expense. Brilliant decision. The Cu Chi tunnels were maybe not as authentic as I had thought they would be, I guess a hopeless goal with as many tourists as visit the area. The tour was pretty good though, informative and impressive. The propaganda machine was at full power though, and started to become somewhat tiring. Our group was pretty cool and it only took till the end of the tour and the ride back before we really started conversing when the argentinean lady pretty much decided to share her life story and the whole group tried to avoid talking with her. Back in Ho Chi Minh we popped over to the Reunification palace which we had missed the day earlier. Q struggled through it, her stomach cramping up every now and then, so we ended up chilling on the swings in the back of the park surrounding the palace. We passed by the hotel, mostly to grab a shower and clean up after another scorching day, but also to find a place to eat. Showering we had to do next to the breakfast room in the toilet with shower on account of having checked out in the morning... we had to fill the day while waiting for the night bus to depart. We ended up picking Huong Lai for another helping of local specialities for dinner and then headed back to pick up our luggage to head to the departure point for our night bus.

We were supposed to be there 30 minutes before hand, which we hit spot on, but ended up waiting more than an hour. With three busses headed to Da Lat and the first two drivers exclaiming we had to wait for the next bus. They were so adamant, and aside from next bus so unable to speak English, that we kind of just hoped for the best and waited for the next bus... and then again the next bus to arrive. The right bus did indeed arrive in the end and we boarded the bus, alongside two other foreign girls who had been waiting all that time. We settled in for an eight our bus ride through the night.