Sunday 7th August We had an early start to begin our journey to Hoi Ann by bus. The trip used to be a 6 hour drive but a new tunnel has recently been opened through the mountain. Therefore made it to Hoi Ann just in time for lunch. We then all went for a quick orientation about town to get our bearings and stopped for lunch at a café called Cargos. Great food and of course the deserts good too! Everyone then headed to hit the tailor shops to sort out some clothes. First place called Yally and full of very attractive young sales ladies and so of course Jason and Nick felt obligated to buy a shirt or two. The rest of us with more taste headed back down to the market to try and barter with the ladies at Café 52! Walking about town we bumped into the Dutch sisters from the overnight train to Hue and also Canadian fast mover Kevin. After spending the afternoon looking at catalogues, deciding on fabric, being measured and bartering a good price everyone seemed happy with their clothes order. The girls enjoyed an excuse to look at the boys' bums in detail and the boys took pleasure in the measuring for their trousers, about the only time a girl's hand would be running up their inner thigh this entire trip! ;-) We then headed back to the hotel for a quick freshen up before dinner at Tam Tams followed by a few drinks at a sports bar down the road so could watch the footie. Unfortunately the town pretty much closes up at 11:30 and so headed back to the hotel to try some very bad Vietnamese brandy! Tres dodgy!!! Monday August 8th (Hoi An) We woke up and went to the other main attraction of Hoi An, the beach. It was beautiful, perfect weather for yet another day. We stopped on a part of the beach owned by the Man restaurant and relaxed and suntanned until the early afternoon. The water was warm, but not too warm and we swam for quite a while. We then relaxed in our chairs, only to be awakened by the sounds of the locals selling their goods. Every two minutes, I would be approached by "Hello, pineapple"" and then "Hello, jewelry: and back to "Hello, newspaper". On the beach, anything other than No means Yes. For example, yes means yes, maybe means yes and tomorrow means yes. For lunch, I caught a motorbike taxi back into town and then for a fitting for the clothes I bought the previous day. I bought some shirts, suits, shorts, and a dress all custom made for $US230. I needed some advice and how everything looked. So, during the fitting, the girls enjoyed an excuse to look at the boys' bums! A few items were fixed and the were completed by the end of the day. I was very impressed with their work, especially my suits. We had some good Vietnamese dinner at Mermaids restaurant, went to a lounge and when the bars closed at 11:30, we went to our hotel lobby where jason, Kevin and I stayed up until 4 AM debating the differences between Canada, USA and UK! Tuesday August 9th (Hoi An -> Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Woke up early to go on the bus to Ho Chi Minh City (population: 5.4 million) which was formerly known as Saigon. We got to the Thien Tung Hotel around noon. We ate some really good chicken noodle soup for lunch and then had a cyclo tour of the city. We ended the tour at the War Remenants museum that consists of two parts. One listed the various atrocities that the Americans did to the Vietnamese during the war including the awful after effects of Agent Orange. The other section was a reconstruction of the tiger cages that the government says that Americans kept captured soldiers in. There were also lots of "evidence" and photos of cruel torture techniques that the government says Americans imposed on their prisoners. Outside the museum were various American war artifacts including American tanks, planes and bombs. Went back to the hotel, took a nap, went for dinner, then to a bar. The bar served some free drinks and played a lot of good music. Then back to the hotel via motorbike taxi - I love them! Wednesday August 10th (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Woke up early to and took a private bus for 45 minutes to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels became legendary in the 1960's for its role in faciliating Viet Cong (VC) control of a large rural region only 30 km from Saigon. This region is also only 30 km from the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail and served a strategic purpose. The Viet Cong would go and hide from US bombardments. In the district of Cu Chi alone there were over 200 km of tunnels. The spaces were so small. They've doubled the size of them so western tourists like me can get in, and there are still tiny. Not for anyone with closterphobia. I had a crawl around for a bit and learned a lot about the tactics of the VC. Our tour guide fought with the Americans in the South and he gives a very different view of the war than we heard in the North. There is still a sense that the South is under the control of the North. When we were done crawling around in the dark, we went to look at the various booby traps that the VC used on the American GIs. We then went to the firing range and the boys had a go with an AK-47. After some power napping, went out in the evening to a nice outdoor restaurant, followed it up by the same bar which was now giving away a special Vietnamese wine. The wine was so bad that I needed to buy a few cocktails to be able to drink the wine! We then did some good dancing at the Apocalypse Now bar. Unfortunately it closed at 12:00 so we went to one of the only bars that were still open, the Saigon Bar and stayed there for a few hours before heading home.