This past week has been very humid with the occassional heavy downpour or thunderstorm. The rainy season has just finished and the temperature averages about 35 degrees with approximately 75% humidity. Aircon is a must and luckily our room has aircon. When you step out of the room the heat engulfs you and sucks out all your energy.

We are about a half hour from the city centre and, as there is hardly any public transport just buses, on our trips into town we take a 'grab' bike. These bikes are ordered on an app and take a couple of minutes to arrive. They are great fun and sometimes a little hair-raising riding pillion as they weave through the traffic. There are lots of obstacles, but the riders seem to have eyes in the back of their head and get through the narrowest of gaps as they hedge through the hoards of bikes. We have used them to visit the Zoological Gardens, District 1 (the main shopping area) and the War Remnants Museum. Coming back though, because it is very hot, we use 'grab' car which is a small car taxi that you also order on the app, however with the advantage of aircon! The reason we use the grab app is that the rate is fixed in advance and we don't have to barter or end up paying a fortune if we get stuck in traffic.

The War Remnants Museum was very sobering as it showed in photographic A3 posters the history of the conflict and how it affected the people. The pictures of those captured during the war were quite graphic as were the pictures of the consequences of using chemical warfare and particularly Agent Orange. It was however interesting to read, from the Vietnamese point of view, the various stages that led to the start of the War and how it developed over the years. There were a lot of different nationalities walking around the museum and everyone was very quiet, which was noticable as some nationalities are usually quite vocal with their opinions, but here there was not a lot anyone could say as they walked around the gallery looking at the horrific photos and reading the descriptions. Later after the war they showed reunions and it was humbling to see how the Vietnamese wanted to move forward and not dwell on the horrors of the War but rather learn from it, I don't think I could be so forgiving.