Regards everyone, hope everyone had a great Christmas and a lovely new year. We certainly did (update to follow). Thanks for all the calls, messages, texts, cards and presents, they were all very much appreciated and, if we're honest, made us miss home slightly. So, on with the story.... We left Hoi An to catch the 17 hour train journey to Saigon (it's officially named Ho Chi Minh city following the country's reunification but everyone refers to the city as it's old name). The journey itself was on the reunification express which spans the length of the country (we did plan to travel the entire length, but because of the floods in central Vietnam, we could only do the southern half much to the joy of Belle and disappointment of yours truly). You may think that 17 hours is a bind, but it's a great train journey threading through some beautiful paddy laden countryside, and the beds were pretty comfortable too. We arrived in Saigon to the usual hustle and bustle of a South East Asian rail terminal, but now as we were battle hardened - we sidestepped the odd illegal taxi driver, handed-off several bike taxi drivers and jumped in a metered taxi that took us right to the backpacker district of Pham Ngu Lao without any problems (a real first!). After finding a hostel pretty quickly, is was off to see the sights of one of the most hectic cities we've been too. First we went to the War remnants museum, which is solely dedicated to the Vietnam war (or 'American war' as people refer to it in Vietnam). It has to be said that the museum follows in the same vain as what we experienced in the North, heavy propaganda against 'the infiltrators'. However on the flip side, it can also be viewed as a good opportunity to view the war through the eyes of the Vietnamese rather than what Hollywood feeds us. The museum itself is segregated in different sections (i.e aircraft, tanks, guns, helicopters greet you in the first section, tiger cages in which the Viet Minh were incarcerated in another etc). The highlight was definitely the Pulitzer-prize winning photos - absolutely amazing shots in the heat of battle that would amaze anybody with the slightest appreciation for great photography. The low-light definitely had to be the effects of the American's use of Agent Orange - there was some harrowing pictures, but non more harrowing than the glass jars with actual deformed babies preserved in formalin for us to view! So after an incredibly interesting few hours in the museum, and another couple 'taking in' the city [dodging millions upon millions of scooters) it was time for some light refreshment. We got a nice table in a corner pub that looked out onto one of the many busy streets and stayed there quaffing the local beer for the next six hours (yes Vietnam, you are good at remembering your war, but we also are good at something....supping your 'Saigon beer'). We seemed to have drinks with people representing what seemed half the countries in EU, and some outside. But you can't beat your own, so we ended up with a Jamie Atherton lookalike from Rochdale (can't wait for some of you to see the photo's) and a couple of jocks from Aberdeen! That's keeping it real! One interesting spectacle (although I'll leave that for you to decide) was noticing 'Amerasions' (Amerasions being of above average height, round eyes, and commonly light brown hair and the most obvious legacy of the American war. These people can be seen about and [quite sadly are] usually first line descendants of American GI's and their use of the huge Vietnamese prostitution industry while on R&R from the battle further north). We'd read about them in books previously, and although we saw only a couple, I didn't believe they would be noticeable until one tried to sell us a rickshaw ride (Win, belle quite rightly stopped me from getting a pic so you'll have to use your imagination!). So onto Day two, and it was more delving into Vietnam's recent history with a trip to the Reunification Palace. Now in short, this place was the government headquarters of the South Vietnamese (then called the Independence Palace) until the North quite literally burst through the gates and seized power (some great photos of them actually coming through the gate give great perspective). This led to me and Belle having long discussions following the question "where would you have run....?".....god we'd be good at defending our country!! Now the palace still remains (interior design an all) exactly as it was left years ago and almost has an eeri feel. We toured private quarters, dining rooms, entertainment lounges, and the president's office, Most interesting was the war command rooms in the basement, with its huge maps and old communications equipment etc. After the Reunification Palace we toured round a few of Saigon's shopping centres for a bit of retail therapy (I managed to maintain a big V sweat patch on the front of my T-shirt for much of the day (which was a great feat) while shaking my head in disbelief as Belle didn't ooze a single bead of sweat! Ba****d!). Again the evening was spent in our new found favourite bar getting pretty drunk in the company of our new found friends from the previous evening. Day three in Saigon, and you've guessed it...more war sightseeing. Today saw us go to the infamous Cu Chi tunnels about two hours bus journey out of the Saigon. But not before we stopped off at a factory built to solely provide employment opportunities for people effected by Agent Orange. Brief caveat: Agent Orange, only first line descendants are effected, not any further blood line, therefore the factory will be used for something else in the next generation. (probably not that interesting for the reader, but I'll bobble it in anyway). So, being a tight so-and-so, I took a few pictures and didn't buy anything!! Cu Chi was one of the most famous battlegrounds of the war, and is where the Vietnamese have preserved the land for tourists which includes the odd tank, man traps, trenches etc but more famously the tunnels used by the Viet Cong. The tunnels themselves have been allegedly widened for western tourists, but the cramped and airless tunnels saw Belle bail out at the entrance, and [a now overweight] Stupot only able to go 60 metres before surfacing with even larger V-sweat on t-shirt. It has to be said, that the experience was not as brilliant as what we luckily had in the DMZ, but still good anyway - particularly at the end of the tour you had chance to fire a number of weapons at a shooting range. Yours truly opted for the M16, and duly almost burst the eardrums of me, belle, and probably anyone within a mile radius. No wonder all the marines went mad during the war, it wasn't the drugs or Malaria, it was the blummin guns!! Belle, now with sever tinnitus, walked round with shell shock a la open scene from Saving Private Ryan and didn't shoot bullet! Our return journey to Saigon was on a boat down the Saigon river with a handful of other people. We got to know our guide pretty well who fought in the war with John Kerry!! So then it was about 5 o'clock and the pub (once again) was calling..... Day 4, off to the Mekong Delta.......think we've covered the war enough to move on!