7 June 12
Off to Vietnam today!!
Leave at 7am to get the bus to Vietnam - paid extra to go with a Vietnamese company as easier to get across the border, however picked up by an unfriendly minibus driver who grunts at me to get in and drops me at a bus station!
Helpful locals point out right bus to catch! Join the bus with Cambodian under 16 girls football team!

Cross on a ferry which I had no idea about - the bus just drove onto the ferry and was only on there 10 minutes - crossing a river in Cambodia! There were locals selling food and drink to cars on the ferry, they really do sell anywhere and everywhere!!

On route passed some lorries parked up and they had hammocks under the lorries - imagine sleeping under your lorry!!

Handed passport into guide to hand in departure card and get visa stamped. Get to the boarder crossing and get passport back. Have to get off bus and walk to immigration booths who check you have a visa and take all your finger prints. Back on bus and arrive an another immigration office - this time passport re-checked and all luggage has to go through a scanner! Not used to this sort of official boarder crossing!!

Arrive in Vietnam at 3pm in Ho Chin Minh City (Saigon) and check into Saigon youth hostel.

Explored the city a little - the traffic here is manic, hundreds of bikes and cars on the road, all beeping at one another, I don't know how I am going to cross the roads as they don't stop at crossings or red traffic lights!!

Went to water puppet show tonight. This is a puppet show acting out Vietnamese cultural stories in water, narrated by music and dialogue. The puppets were colourful, and had quite a bit of movement. It was very well acted, and I was impressed how they moved the puppets in the water pool. I even had front row seats!

As with all places I have to visit the market - this was quite a small market but had clothes and souvenirs and very cheap!

8 June 12
Day trip to Cao Dai Holy See and Cu Chi tunnels today.
Nervous start to the trip as they tour guide takes down our names at the start of the bus journey. The last time I did this was in Cambodia on the way to Koh Rong and found out later this was to know who was on the Island in case anything happened. - I've heard Vietnam roads are bad - but is this really necessary?!

The temple where Cao Dai Holy See (Cao Dai is the religion) is pretty, lots of colours used on the outside and inside the building - colourful pillars, walls, floor, ceiling and stained glass windows. Watch the service that is carried out here by the Cao Dai (they attend 4 services a day!) This is a multi religious group. They have various colours - blue, red, yellow, and white. The service was interesting to watch. I had to watch from the balcony on the second level. The Cao Dai walk through on the ground floor, the people wearing the colours walk through first and are at the front followed by the white. There are people who sing and play music during the service on the second level, whist Cao Dai chant, pray and sing. Most of the Cai Dai are elder women, I guess this is because they pray so many times a day, and i don't think they live close to the temple.

Lunch at Tay Ninh - I ordered beef and rice paper pancakes, only to find out it was rice paper that I had to dip in water and roll myself to make fresh spring rolls. I was sitting with a Vietnamese person on his holiday and he asked the staff to make the rolls for me as I got into a bit of a mess, lol! They were delicious!!

Next visited Cu Chi tunnels at Ben Dinh in Cu Chi District. These are tunnels from the Vietnam War.
Got to see a secret passage - a tunnel entrance that would have been covered up (camouflage), various trapped used by the Cu Chi people, entrances to the original tunnels - they were tiny!
Got to go inside a tunnel - a large one (widen for westerners), but I still had to crouch, even get on hands and knees at one point, through a dark, hot, claustrophobic 100m tunnel! It was a good experience to think what it must have been like. Just imagine having to spend days/weeks in a tunnel!
Watched a video on the Cu Chi tunnels, explaining about the history. The tunnels could be as small as 80cm square, and down to four levels underground.

9 June 12
City tour organised by Duggan!! Getting good with a map now!!
Went to the War Museum, had a look at the cathedral, post office, opera house, people committee hall and Ho Chi Minh City Museum. The buildings are fantastic, the sculptures and detail!
Lastly I went to the palace. I had a tour around the palace and got to see various rooms, most interesting in the basement (2 underground floors) with radio rooms, offices and decision/board rooms. Also got to see a secret door which led down to the basement! To be honest, wasn't that impressed with this palace!

It poured down with rain today and I noticed all the motorbikes (locals) had ponchos on, but they covered the handlebars and mirrors of the bike...just proves they don't use the mirrors, just the horn for everything. Now I'm looking at the bikes, not all of them even have mirrors!!

Around the city today I was amazed at the sight of the electricity cables. They are in a right state, all crossed over, hanging low, and there are so many, I couldn't believe it!
Also, this city is quite well off. There are lots of high rise fancy buildings, one looking like a mini burj al arab!

10 June 12
Trip down the Mekong Delta today.
Left Saigon by bus and travelled for 2 hours to My Tho to begin the Mekong Delta trip. Went on a motor boat and saw dragon island, phoenix island, turtle island and unicorn Island. Got off the boat at unicorn island to visit a bee keeping farm, and eat a few sweets!
Next went for a walk along a canal to get on a rowing boat. This was steered by two women and they gave us Vietnamese style hats to wear. I enjoyed this bit of the trip.
Back on the motor boat to Ben Tre where visited a coconut candy workshop. It was more of a room, where out guide just talked about what the machines would do, whilst some people rolled out some coconut candy. It tasted pretty good though!
On a smaller boat now which takes us to a restaurant for lunch. Lunch was 'chicken' and rice...or so they said!!
Back on the boat to another part of unicorn island to eat some fruit and listen to some traditional music.
Back to My Tho for the bus back to Saigon!
On the way back I hear a noise that sounds like air coming out if a tyre...It was, there is a puncture! Instead of stoping and changing the tyre, the driver gets off the bus, looks at the tyre and decides to just drive slower...that's alright then!!!