Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as the locals prefer to call it). I thought Cambodia's roads were hectic, clearly I was wrong. It was the first time in 3 months that I had been in a car (taxi) and I felt smaller than I did on a pedal bike in Siem Reap. The taxi was surrounded by swarms of bikes left, right and centre at junctions waiting to cross and continue on their path through the never-ending city. I thought to myself "if I don't get run over by a motorbike here it will be a miracle!" We were staying in Sanouva Hotel in Le Than Ton street. I gulped as I walked into the room….Air con! Sofas! Double Beds! Huge flat screen TV! I went from rags to riches overnight (this of course won't last long). We were located just around the corner from the famous night market 'Ben Thanh Ton' so we dropped off at a traditional local restaurant (not as local as street food, but near enough) beforehand. They didn't speak a word of English so I could see this was going to be an interesting experience, especially as we only had dollars and not the local currency, Dong. The food was faultless and the taste of the food was more Chinese tasting (the oyster sauce may have been the big give-away). There was no way they would understand my Cambodian sentence for 'no MSG please' here…I will have to learn the Vietnamese lingo for it instead I think. The market was much smaller than I expected, the same old tack could be purchased and there was the same old haggling to be had. None the less, it was an experience seeing the different ways of the Vietnamese. I found them quite a bit more abrupt, but I guess you could say that about parts of London…same same but different! Motorbikes would, at full speed, drive through the centre of the market….ye,s my death was near at this point!

The next day we did our own guided tour; this was probably a bit too adventurous! We started at the War Remnants museum which was shocking! To think the war was only 40 years ago and seeing the terror and disaster from the pictures and facts was a lot to stomach. We then grabbed a taxi to what we thought was China town. As soon as mum pointed out of the cab window and said 'look at that market' he stopped the cab and dropped us off, assuring us that it was China town. He had locked the doors…ah yes we hadn't paid yet! The look in his eyes, however, I just didn't like. Before the journey we had settled on a price but now he wanted way more! This was not right. I heard the click of the doors unlocking, we gave him the money which we had originally agreed and escaped. So it was obviously mum's day for quotes 'it does smell like China town' soon followed by a local telling us that this wasn't China town and that we had been dropped in an unfamiliar area. But worry not, having got rid of about seven congregating experts (cab drivers) wanting their input into a $5 journey, we hopped in another cab and were soon at our desired destination. Breathe Beth breathe. Shalong Market was huge - filled with market keepers eating their lunch whilst sitting on their produce. There was no 'oi-ing' or 'hey lady'-ing which made this experience a nice quiet one. This was followed by a trip to the local Chinese buffet restaurant, erm I meant Phuoc an hoi quao Pagoda. It was actually lovely, but the décor looked very similar to the Chinese buffet restaurant in Slough. I think a more rural pagoda was imagined; instead it was between two run-down buildings on the side of a main road. A taxi ride back to the hotel (yes we did get back to the correct location), sushi for lunch and then after a shower we headed for the airport…to the beach!

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