Xin Chao! Hello from HCMC!

On arrival at HCMC ariport we were greeted by many taxi rivers all trying to grab us to get us to use their taxi - we agreed to o with one man but then he took us to a car in the car park....so we asked him if we could see his taxi license or something along those lines to which he opened his boot and showed us the taxi light that had 'conveniently' fallen ff the top ofthe car so we qwalked away and fonud n official taxim which we shared with a sweet little chinese girl. The taxi dropped us off on the other side of the street to our hostel which was rather scary as the roads are so congested that we had to cross a road where there were no breaks in traffic - in the end that taxi man helped us across the road. It was now about 9pm local time and were really tired from our 28hours of travelling so we had an early night.

The next moring we got up earlyu ready to go a wandering. Our first stop was the Ben Thanh market - the city's largest. This market was crazy - just as daunting as the roads. The amrket was very tightly packed with little room to move between the stalls. People shouted after us trying to get us to buy anything from their stall, they would grab our arms and pretty much place items of clothing in our arms! after buying nothing, we headed to the Revolutionary museum. This was quite small but rather interesting as it gave insights into the Vietmanese culture like how wedding cremonys work etc.

Walking around the city was rather tiring due to the heat and the humidity, so we took a wee chill out time in front of the Royal Palace and read our books while we waited for it to open, just as we got started the heavens opened and we got abslutely drenched. Whilst sheltering from the rain, a Vietmnese lady started talking to us. She was learning English at uni and wanted to practice and find out about our country, but her english wasnt great so she didnt understand everything we said. At 1.30 the Palace opened so we headed in. We had an english speaking tour guide who took us around all the rooms and explained the history of te Palace.

After tea that evening we hit a few bars and sat outside watching the hustle and bustle of the back streets. It is particulary intersting watching how the mopeds/motorbikes dash around pedestrians and each other, how they drive up the wrong sideof the road and how looking at how any people they manage to squeeze on to one! There were lots of people trying to sell you tissues, chewing gum, souvenirs - especially children...we got speaking to one little girl who said she was 8, her english was amazing but it was so sad to see her on the streets at night selling flowers etc.

The following day we booked a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels - these are tunnels built by the Southern Vietmanese people in the fight against the Americans. The tunnels are built on a 3 level structure under ground. The tunnels stretch over 200km and are built underground but on many different levelsm with the 3rd level being 60metrwes nderground. Wer got to go down the tunnels (whichj had been widened for torists) and they were still tiny - very claustraphobic, damp and dark. You could go 80m along the tunnel but we chose to go just 30m! The tunnels widened in places allowing for accomodation, meeting rooms and preperation for battles!

On the way back to HCMC we were dropped off at the War Remanents Museum - this museum was so graffic but extremely interesting, It talked you through the war, how the americans poisoned the Vietmanese and then pictures of the aftermaths...thereare so many people who ahve been permanently damaged by the checmicals the americans used - a lot of which you see begging on the streets.

We hit a little Vietmanese restaurant that evening before having a look in some shops having a drink and heading back to hostel....we had an early start as getting the bus to Nha Trang the next day.

Hope everyone is well, sorry it took us so long to start writing on this but its hard to find time (this has taken an hour to write!)

Lots of love

Gill and Mel xxx