Nigel: For those that are a little older than Alison and I, you will know Ho Chi Minh City by the other name of Saigon. Even though it is officially called is Ho Chi Minh,most of the locals still call it by the original name. The change was introduced to celebrate the former leader of the communist party that defeated the Americans in the Vietnam war. We arrived in Vietnam by air from Phuket and we had pre booked a hotel, so our lift in to the centre was already arranged. The hotel that we were staying in was very nice and clean but it had one problem. Every morning, for the 2 nights that we stayed there, the cinema across the road would play very very loud music from about 5:30am to 10:30pm. Due to our lack of lie ins we decided to move down to the backpackers part of town. We knew that as Christmas was fast approaching, this would be where we would be to open our presents.

The first thing you notice about HCM is the amount of traffic and the amount of motor bikes. They estimate that there are 7 million people living in the city and there are 5 million bikes. As you can guess trying to cross the road isn't very easy. You don't really look when you cross but just shuffle along and let the bikes go round you. The trick is not to stop as they will hit you. It was effective and we escaped unharmed. We did venture out on Xmas eve and nearly every person and their bike were out that night. Everyone was excited and on a few occasions Alison would receive a short blast of foam and glitter spray.

Alison: Vietnam (and HCMC especially) was the best place that we could have spent Christmas because it has the second highest population of Christians in SE Asia and so Christmas is quite widely celebrated here. However, although there were decorations everywhere and many people dressed as Santa,Christmas day appeared to be business as usual amongst the locals. Public transport runs as usual, shops stay open, and even schools are open. In Vietnam the main event occurs on Christmas Eve and ,as Nigel has mentioned, this is when everyone has a big party! On Christmas day we went for a walk around the city in search of a nice lunch. We didn't actually get a full on roast like at home but the food we had was delicious none the less....soup, chicken and bacon roll with veg, and a fancy bit of cake to finish :-) It was a lot more traditional than the giant apple snails we had eaten earlier in the week. The next thing we did wasn't quite so festive – we went to the war museum! It was surprising how many people were in there. In the evening we went out to an Italian restaurant and made the most of the cheap Vietnamese wine. All in all, it was a good day but I have to be honest and say that I was glad when it was over. Being in a hot country far from home just didn't feel right for me. I missed the Christmas frenzy of home. There is just something special about being with your family at Christmas and going through the same old routine...I even missed opening up my mandatory slippers and socks!

Whilst staying in HCMC, we also organised a day trip to a Cao Dai Temple and the Chu Chi Tunnels. Cao Dai is a religion that is unique to Vietnam but it is slowly fading out. There are only a few places that still have the religion.I don't fully understand it but the religion unites Buddhists,Confucians, and Catholics. They live in their own community and they worship 4 times a day. It took 3 hours to get to the temple to watch their noon ceremony. We all stood on a balcony in the church and looked down on them. It was a bit weird watching them sing and pray. It felt like we shouldn't be watching and photographing something so personal. After the temple we headed for the Chu Chi Tunnels. It was interesting listening to our tour guide give us the background to the tunnels and the war. In Vietnam it isn't known as the Vietnam War,they call it the American War. You could tell he was being very careful about what he said. He refused to talk about anything political because he was afraid of being shot. It's amazing to think that people are still killed for not supporting the communist government. The Chu Chi tunnels are a network of tunnels in the heart of southern Vietnam which were used by the communist Viet Cong to hide and attack the Americans and South Vietnamese during the war.They were very effective as they were so well hidden, so well hidden in fact, that the Americans actually built a camp on top of them. The network was also very intricate meaning that anyone going down there would easily get lost and could be led in to the many booby traps set up. Viet Cong soldiers were able to pop up out of the ground to attack and then disappear just as quickly. The Americans tried many techniques to get the Viet Cong out of the tunnels. These included sending dogs down or blasting fire/water through the tunnels. They were always outwitted though. In the end they blanket bombed the whole area. The Viet Cong soldiers actually lived underground which is amazing considering the size of the tunnels. We were allowed to go through a stretch of the tunnels and we had to crawl because they were so small. The section we went through had even been widened for tourists so I can't imagine how they managed during the war. Our guide told us people lived down there for 20 years! There are many many interesting stories related to the tunnels but I think I've banged on about them enough. For anyone visiting Vietnam, we definitely recommend going to see them.