After yet another over night bus trip we arrived in Ho Chi Minh, otherwise known of as Saigon. We arrived really early and the guesthouses were really pricey for Asia. We found a really nice place after looking at a few dodgey crap ones. I had to lug my bag up 4 flights of stairs which wasn't the nicest experience but at least the place wasn't ridden with cockraoches! We didnt want to waste our first day there so after stuffing our faces we went to the Vietnam War Museum. It was so disturbing I didnt even take any pictures. It was so interesting to find out about the War and even today the people of Vietnam are affected by the war. The chemicals used by the Americans had a devasting impact on the country. Agent Orange was one of the chemicals used and there were loads of pictures of children with birth defects and there was even a real foetus preserved with the most horrendous defects. There were also other pictures where peoples limbs were hanging off after bombs had exploded and to be honest I was almost sick.

The next day Lois, James and Laura had gone to the Cu Chi tunnels which had been used in the war but as Lisa and I are quite claustrophobic we decided not to go but to have a day site seeing in the city. We had such a funny day, it was Lisa and Tracy's day of fun! We saw the Palace, which was neither pretty or worth taking a picture of, we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral which was gorgeous - it was such a nice sunny day so everything looked even better! Near to the Catedral there was a department store... we were so excited! Normality, we wandered around there for a bit and then went to the revolution museum where we took some hilarious photo's and messed about really. We then went to the markets which was so annoying as we were hassled so badly. The longer you are in Asia the more you ignore but this was out of control. After that stress we decided to reward ourselves with frozen yoghurt and fruit.. which cost almost as much as our nights accomodation! Ho Chi Minh was a great contrast of all the good things about Vietnam, it wasnt as mental as Hanoi but it still had so much culture and history and lovely scenery.

Bye Bye Vietnam....Off to Cambodia.. x