Hello everyone......it's been a while and we've been bloody busy!!!

We left you at Ho Chi Minh City so we'll start from there!

We spent the first day in Saigon booking trips and generally getting our bearings and then went out on the town where we found a young American bloke sat at the bar with a bottle of scotch. Sat drinking with him for a couple of hours and headed to another bar where we stumbled across some Welsh blokes we met in Nha Trang (which is damn weird seeing as Saigon is huge!!) and headed to their hotel which had a 24hour bar and drank till 4am - damn successful night!!

Next day we got up late (no surprises there) and got a much needed full English and had a couple of brews each, then headed to the War Remnants Museum. Was a really good afternoon, the place was brimming with planes, tanks bombs from the war (check the pics), even had the cells prisoners were held in. Emily/Amy, it'd have been handy for you - learned about Agent orange (which is the chemical the Americans used to destroy the forests over the tunnels which Vietnamese soldiers lived in, they couldn't get to them any other way because of the guerilla warfare tactics used by the Viet Cong) and generally loads of information of the Vietnamese war (which is pretty gruesome) After we headed top the shopping district of Saigon which is huge and sat and had a coffee seeing as the monsoon season had started and it was lashing it down!!!! Headed back and grabbed some tea, had a few beers and went to bed early as we were up at 6am!

Next day (Day 53 by debs reckoning) we headed firstly to a production line where some of the disabled veteran and family of veterans make some of the souvenirs sold in markets and then to the Chu Chi Tunnels for a half day tour (drizzly morning - get back by 2pm) of the main area which Communist Northern Vietnamese soldiers (the Viet Cong) attacked Saigon in an attempt to seize the South of Vietnam. This was an impressive place, made more so by the fact that our tour guide fought for the Viet Cong- the craters bombs had made during the war were still there and all the forest around the area was brand new as the Agent Orange originally burned all vegetation! At the start we watched a documentary of Chu Chi town and listen to info about why the place was so important and then headed around the tour - which we pretty much knew from the day before at the museum!!(Getting pretty clued up!) The tunnels themselves was a 200km network which descended to up to 15 meters underground - however the Americans bombed the tunnel network and most of it was destroyed . We were eventually allowed to descend into one strip which was 150 meters long - it took about 5 minutes but we were already happy to be out as its pretty claustrophobic!!! How some of the Viet Cong lived down there for weeks on end is incredible!! After that (as always) we were taken to the souvenir shop at the end of the tour, which was right next to a shooting range where tourists could shoot an AK-47 at targets!! I opted out because it was so loud and I had hangover!!! (Debs here - PUFF!)

Went out after day at tunnels to G02 bar, the local, and met our scotch drinking American friend and a couple of Dutch blokes, played pool and drank tequila (as debs actually struggled to get drunk in Saigon) dunno why?? Probably all the fibre in tricketts new diet! No, actually Chris the Vietnamese vodka is very rubbish! And I was probably still in shock from my latest escapade.....everybody....I KICKED A RAT!!!!!! Right in the ribs too! It was so warm and wet, I felt sick.

Basically we were wondering through the streets trying to find the newly refurbished Go2 bar which just opened again that night, and I was being ever so cautious of the crappy pavements (don't know if I mentioned that the tally for busting open big toes is now 2-0 to Debs, did the other toe not long after my tummy recovery in Nha Trang) and so walked on the road. As I was passing some rubbish, the b***** got me!!! Was so glad it didn't bite, must've shown it who was boss and gave it a right wellying! Spent an hour after washing my foot being paranoid over any disease that might have passed to flip-flop, to hand, to glass, to mouth...to death! Chris eventually ran out of patience and told me I wasn't gunna die so that's good.

Anyway the next day we got up and headed to Mui Ne (check out the Mui Ne blog and photo album)!!!

Got back from Mui Ne to Saigon at 2pm after a really relaxing time on the beach and stuff and got some dinner and went drinking again - seeing as Mui Ne really didn't offer too much in terms of night life!!

The next day the only eventful happening was- debs had her card taken by an ATM!!! Big assed blag - but were reight cos we've got mine (NOTE TO PARENTS - It wasn't Chris who lost a bank card!!!!) hehe

Had a really good time in Ho Chi Minh City, a really busy place - even crossing the road can be a real problem, but was comfy with good food and good beer!!! Headed onto the 3-day Mekong Delta trip to get us from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) but as it is a three day tour there is plenty to do and see on the way!!!

Hope everyone is well back home - lots of love

Chris and Debs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx