A few hours after the border and we were in Ho Chi Minh City. We found our hostel down a maze of alleyways in the main backpacker district. We dumped our stuff and went for an explore, and ended up at the market which was pretty crazy as the aisles between stalls were really narrow and you had people shouting 'hey lady, you buy you buy!' from every angle. We left and stood at the side of the road for a while, everyone has said the traffic in HCMC is insane, but you really have to believe it to see it. There are no pedestrian crossings, so you have to walk out into the traffic with blind faith that no one will hit you. It takes a while to get used too!

Whilst walking down the main road, a motorbike climbed the pavement and ran into one of the girls I was with and ripped off her bag that was over her shoulder and in that she was holding on to also. We ran after them but obviously being on a motorbike we had no chance. The manager of the hostel kindly let us use his phone to cancel cards etc, and came with us to the police station to translate. I have to say being in a Vietnamese police station was a new experience, but while sat there I was just glad I was there and not waiting in a hospital as it could have ended very differently. They wanted money for the police report but our hostel manager told them all her money had gone. Nice and corrupt!

We decided a drink was needed after everything, and found a cheap street where you sit on the pavement on a plastic chair and all drinks cost about 40p. We had a few of these and met some English guys and spent the night chatting away and before we knew it we were getting into bed at 3am.

We were at the police station by 8am to collect the police report and then hot footed it the other side of the city to the British Embassy in order to sort out an emergency passport. They were great in there but it soon became apparent that the exit visa from Vietnamese immigration was going to take some time. Back at the hostel we decided to dress ourselves up a bit and head out to forget about all the dramas. We met up with the lads from the night before and had some cheap drinks before going to a bar with a live band. I think my highlight was when they managed to go from Metallica to Maroon 5. Quite an accomplishment.

Another late night and another early morning and I was off on a day trip to the Mekong delta. After a crazy drive I arrived at the boat port and was loaded onto a small boat and off we went. The first stop was on an island where they made coconut candy, and we were shown the whole process of how it was made and as always in this country, you could buy the end product.

Next stop was a different island for lunch, which had a bridge made out of bamboo and even crocodiles. On the next island we tried honey tea which was ridiculously sweet, and held a python. Naturally. We were then loaded into row boats and given Vietnamese conical hats to wear, and we were rowed down the river which was quite spectacular. Once off the boat we were given local fruits to try and shown a performance by some singers when it was soon time to go home again. Was a random day trip but fun none the less.

I met up with the girls back at the hostel, and as it was going to be my last night with them due to them having to hang around in HCMC for a visa, we decided to go out for a nice meal together. After dinner we went for a walk round the night market and then thought we might as well go for one drink. I should know better than most that 'one drink' is never that, and sure enough we were soon in a club dancing to gangnan style.

Up early again we went to visit the CoChi tunnels, which are tunnels that were built during the Vietnam War and villagers and soldiers lived in for the duration. The original entrances were so small, and I couldn't bring myself to go down the tunnel as they were so small I nearly had a panic attack just looking at it! Again there were many ways to spend money, including a firing range where you could shoot ak47's and the like, but we settled for an ice cream and watched instead.

On the way back from the tunnels we went to the war museum. This was interesting, but I found to be very biased and very much ''America ruined the world' spread throughout. It would also have been good to read and see a bit more history and information about the war, instead it was very sensationalist and showed horrific images of those wounded and the effects of Agent Orange etc. Back at the hostel I packed my bags and got ready for the night bus to Nah Trang which was going to take about 13 hours. I said goodbye to Skye and Rochelle who had been my travel buddies for over a week now, so was sad to leave them, they waved me off and onwards I went to my next adventure…