Anyone who has visited Saigon, would I'm sure use the same word to sum up the city- 'Moped'. The sheer number and drone of their engines is the inescapable first impression. Our guide informed us that half of the 10 million population own a motorbike. A staggering statistic but a walk along any street in central Saigon will confirm this is not fictitious. The sheer number of mopeds mixed with buses, taxis, the odd car and occasional traffic light, produces what can only be described as organised chaos. What occurs at a junction can best be described like watching two groups of ants approaching another from different directions - A red light produces momentary calm of the 50 or so bikes before they then weave through each other and continue on their desired path amazingly with no collisions. Officially traffic drives on the right in Vietnam but the free for all approach does allow them to drive on the other side if required. Horns are used constantly and in a totally different way to Europe- a toot doesn't signify that road rage is kicking off but rather 'i'm coming past' or 'move over'. Other road users simply oblige and there is no sense of malice to be seen. It is quite something given the volume of bikes weaving through gaps that don't exist and undertaking that accidents don't appear to happen (we only saw one wheel to wheel shunt).

Traffic watching has turned out to be one of my favourite pastimes on bus journeys. I'm always on the lookout for a more impressively burdened moped each time we go out. After seeing a moped carrying 4 passengers in India, Saigon surpassed that within a day when not only were there 4 passengers but the fourth was actually a child asleep in the arms of the driver.... Which brings me nicely to:

My top 5 items we have seen carried on the back of a moped (in reverse order):

5: A shop supply of drink bottles, crisps etc- so loaded that you couldn't see the driver from behind
4: 2 cages holding 6 baby pigs on the way to Market
3: The passenger holding a full sized ladder
2: An armchair and footstool
1: After seeing number 2, lo and behold following after it was a moped taking up the whole side of a road complete with the remaining part of the 3 piece suite- 'the 3 seater sofa'!

Fascinating to witness but it does raise the obvious question- 'How the hell do I cross the road'? This is actually surprisingly easier than it looks- after watching a Vietnamese lady run the gauntlet we followed behind. It is almost biblical as the simple rule is just to walk slowly with conviction and the bikes avoid you creating a path across..simple!

Ho Chi Minh City is actually the official name following the communist occupation of the city in 1975 and although both are acceptable, the locals still prefer Saigon. I wouldn't say Saigon is exactly hustle bustle like other major cities we have seen but I guess compared to other Vietnamese cities it is as close to manic as the country will ever get! Rather than postcodes they have 7 districts with district 1 being the home to the backpacker area of Pham Ngu Lao and the more upmarket hotel area of Dong Khoi. Having now embraced our inner backpacker a basic $15 rooms of Pham Ngu Lao was perfect. Vietnam has really gone to town with the whole backpacker theme with every other place either a hotel, bar, restaurant, tour agency or shop. However, the route from Saigon to Hanoi or vice versa is now too easy it feels like cheating, such are the willing tour agents on hand to help.

One of the greatest things about traveling in Vietnam is the cost of living. Upon arrival we took out the ATM max of 4 million Dong which unfortunately is not as much as you would think with 30,000 Dong to the pound! However it's hard to part with your money no matter how hard you try. £6 will buy a 2 course dinner for 2 including a bottle of wine and 3 beers.....you can probably half that if you are willing to squat in the street and risk the hygiene of a street vendor! A packet of cigarettes retails at around 30p and if you spend more than 60p on a beer you are in the wrong bar!

If you are sat in a bar there is one guarantee- you will be approached by someone trying to sell you a book, cigarettes, sunglasses, a hammock or a zippo before you can even clink your glasses together. A simple 'no' with a smile is usually enough to send them on to the next tourist! The street sellers, rickshaw drivers and pretty much anyone also run a sideline business and whisper Marijuana in your ear as you walk past! Copyright laws are non existent in Vietnam so although they may all claim it is the genuine thing, the fact that everyone in this poor nation is walking around in designer gear is proof to the contrary! A good quality pirate DVD of any of the latest blockbusters will set you back about 30p where as a good quality colour photocopied lonely planet book normally retails at around £2-3. Obviously not that we would ever make these kind of purchases but if you did the prices are all of course open to negotiation.

If you can handle the lack of air conditioning, the popular Ben Thanh market, a short walk away from the backpacker area, is a great place to practice your bartering skills. It is always fun to see how low you can get the price but often you have to step back to realise you are arguing over 5p. Sally managed to do the best so far driving down an initial asking price of £12 to a final £3 purchase. Normally walking away does the trick and you know you have won the battle when they come running through the market after you to accept your final offer!

The park in the Pham Ngu Lao area is bustling before and after the heat of the day sets in. Group Tai Chi sessions, walking with less of the power, a timid version of badminton and some sort of limbering up exercises are popular with the older locals. The youngsters prefer a form of keepy uppys with a spring loaded shuttlecock and some amazingly bendy behind the back moves.

Days start early and finish late in Vietnam. One morning on the way to the station further up the coast the streets were alive and we even saw a full blown game of floodlit doubles at ten to five in the morning! All of the hospitality or shop staff work long hours for low pay, often with few or no customers all day such is the competition amongst the numerous businesses.

Saigon is an example of how the country is trying to change and modernise along with the rest of the world. There are signs of this as the tin shed slum area that we saw on a previous visit had disappeared (presumably the residents were homed somewhere else?). New dual carriageway roads leaving the city have cropped up along with an impressive skyscraper which dominates the Dong Khoi area. For every supposed step forward there are also signs of an underdeveloped culture with roadside slaughtering of turtles for food or cockfights still taking place. Our guide informed us that it is illegal to gamble on them but the fights are allowed if purely for fun!

The government are said to be trying to reduce the number of motorbikes in favour of cars but the city infrastructure is simply not set up for other forms of transport. This still remains to be seen but having seen no noticeable change since our last visit 6 years ago, it doesn't look like this will happen very soon. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing as Saigon and Vietnam may then retain it's noisy and challenging but totally unique appeal!