So we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) the land of motorbikes on Thursday evening! Our paramount bus ride was pretty easy although we arrived in the rain so got bundled into a taxi before we could ask the driver how much. Many travellers had told us to be wary in Vietnam compared to the neighbouring asian countries so we were a little concerned but the driver seemed friendly enough and after the usual football conversation (many people associate England with football only) he took us down a little side street to Luan Vu hostel which we`d booked the night before. The cheecky chappy on reception immediately asked if id received his email (I hadnt checked them) before announcing they were fully booked and hostel bookers had made a mistake. The thought of looking for accomodation in the rain was not appealing to us however he saved the day and told us he had somewhere down the street exactly the same so we could stay there. Plew! On arrival all seemed good so tiny dilemma over. The rest of our evening we walked around in our rain jackets, got some food and kept our fingers crossed tomorrow would be a drier day.

Hooray the sun was shining! After meeting a guy from Perth who we talked kitesurfing with, we looked around for somewhere cheaper to stay until we eventually ended up next door which was both cheaper and seemed friendly enough so we were now sorted for the next 3 days. Time for some sightseeing coutesy of me with map in hand and on a mission to see the city. Not many people walk in Ho Chi Minh as the traffic is horrendous and its too hot so we had many a motorbike ask us if we wanted a ride. We didnt succumb to these but we did to the cyclos which involves a guy pedalling to push you round the city. We would discover later on that these werent the bargain we thought!

We had a pleasant few hours visitng Ho Chi Minh City Museum, stopping off at the Notre Dame Cathedral and grabbing some amazing food from a local Vietnamese haunt were we were the only westerners eating. This was all courtesy of our cyclo drivers and so after discussions at lunch we decided we would pay them off once theyd dropped us at the War Reminants Museum. At this point I would like to add that the museum was out initial destination and the cyclo drivers did many a detours to add time to our trip. To cut a long story short we ended up having a bit of a debate with the drivers on the street side about how much we agreed to pay them and after a bit of an argument we gave them some cash and walked away. Not the nicest of experiences but something we would learn from!

We then spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the museum and the following day at the Reunification Palace which were both really interesting sites and gave us lots to ponder on over how these people had been treated during the Vietnam War. The following day we learnt from our mistakes and didnt take any rides and managed to dodge the many motorbikes without any injuries. Anyone who has visited Ho Chi Minh will be able to tell you how many bikes there are (I think someone told me 2 million in the city) and how you cant wait until the road is clear to walk otherwise youd be waiting all day. Instead you simply have to walk, slowly but surely in a straight line whilst the motorbikes, bikes, cars and buses dodge round you. A truly unique and hair raising experience!