After travelling from 20:00 to 12:00 we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. When we left the bus, we were swarmed by motorbike taxis that wanted to give us a ride. Unfortunately, no tuctucs in Vietnam... I miss them already. So we got into a taxi. Turned out we were scammed since he drove us a few streets down and stopped at an ATM for us to take out cash. In total we drove 5 minutes which cost us 12 dollar while we were only 50 meters away from where we started... We didn't notice until walking around our hostel again. Well s*** happens, better luck next time.

After checking in and taking a shower, we went to a nearby market. We were stopped on our way by some students who wanted to have conversations with foreigners to improve their English which is pretty cool ofcourse. We talked for like an hour and continued our way towards the market. The market was not very special compared to other markets we have seen so far, but it is always fun to just walk around and look at the little stalls. After the market we went to a sight called the Notre Dame of HCMC. When we arrived back at the hostel, we took some beers and went out for food.

The next day we went to the Warmuseum. This museum displays the war with the USA from what we thought a very one sided perspective. There were airplanes in front of the museum along with some tanks and artillery weapons. When we went in, we were bombarded with the horrors that the war has brought upon Vietnam. The main thing was a toxic ingredient called 'agent orange' which was a code name used by the US. We saw a lot of pictures of people who were misformed as a result of them, their parents or grandparents being infected by agent orange. The US sprayed the chemicals over the lands to ruin harvests and mutilate people. One of the pictures that really caught my attention was the war figures from the US in WWII, Korean War en Vietnam War. The US invested insane amounts of money in the war industry and dropped more bombs than ever. If I remember correctly the US fought with 16 million soldiers in WWII while only 500.000 soldiers were used in the Vietnam War. Bombardments and Vietnamese puppets filled in the rest of the resources used.

After the War Museum we went to a Chinese market nearby and almost got scammed again. We went by bicycle taxis and asked the price before we got in. They said 15.000 Dong (not even a dollar) and we checked this 3 times with them before getting in. It took them like 25 minutes to get us there and then they said they wanted 1.500.000 Dong (75 dollar). Ofcourse we didn't fall for this and in the end paid 5 dollars each. Probably still too much but it was nice to do. We walked back from the market passed several pagodas and went to the Skybar in one of the skyscrapers. The bar was on the 52nd floor and the view was quite nice. When we arrived at the bar we ran into Philipp, one of the volunteers I met in Thailand during my time at the Twinhouse. When we left Thailand we agreed on travelling through Vietnam but we should have started after Daan left. We decided to start travelling together the day after since we had the same program left, namely a two day Mekong delta tour and the Cu Chi tunnels. So we left the Skybar and went looking for a nice bargain for the Mekong tour.

We found a travel agency that offered us 2 days of Mekong for 21 dollars each, accomodation and most of the meals included. We were very happy about that and the day after we packed our small backpack to take with us on the tour. We drove for about 2 hours and arrived at a harbor where we were placed in a boat. We journeyed along several islands and the guide told us some stuff about the river. Our first stop was a coconut candy factory for which Ben Tre, the village we were in, is famous for. The guide explained us the process from coconut to hand wrapped candy. We had a short ride in a carriage pulled by a pony through the village. The next stop was an island that had a crocodile farm. We had lunch and had some free time for ourselves. We visited also visited a bee farm where we tasted fresh honey and honey tea, had a picture with a python and took a ride in a small boat through a smaller part of the river. Our day ended with a look at a noodle workshop and a temple on the way back to the hotel.

On our second day we went to the floating market in Can Tho. This was quite interesting to see as locals would live on their boats for about a week to sell their merchandise to others. When they wanted to trade, the boats were hooked onto each other and the trade could start. There were small boats selling drinks and food to take care of the other boats. After the floating market we went to a fruit garden where we could walk around and try to eat some animals such as rat, snake and frog. Daan and I bought a frog and it tasted a bit like chicken. A woman gave us some snake pieces to try. The key to not vomitting was to not think about what you were eating. I succeeded quite well but I spit out the snake two seconds later after putting it in my mouth. A four hour bus drive back to Ho Chi Minh ended our Mekong experience. It was not as spectacular as we hoped but it were two nice days. We went to the movies again when we came back, this time to the Hobbit 2.

Our last day in Ho Chi Minh was all about the Cu Chi tunnels, the tunnel network that the Vietcong digged to fight the US soldiers. The ride there was quite tense since we had car troubles and since Daan had to catch a flight after we got a bit nervous. Luckily it all turned out allright at the end. We had a stop along the way at a workshop where all the employees were affected by Agent Orange. I didn't like walking around there since it felt a bit like a tourist attraction. They made amazing pottery and paintings never the less.

When we arrived at the tunnels, we saw some of the entrances to the tunnels. These were, ofcourse, well hidden and very small. They were sometimes boobytrapped with mines when the Americans were close. The guide showed us several traps that the Vietcong placed in the jungle and gave us information about the tunnel network itself. After this, we went to the shooting range where we shot with an AK-47. Really cool to do, really loud. The last stops were actually entering the Cu Chi Tunnels and watching a documentary made by the Vietnamese about the Vietnam war. The documentary was not good because it was way too onesided. Talking about 'American Killer Heroes' when there are Americans in the room is far from classy if you ask me. The Cu Chi Tunnels were very cool since we went 6 meters under the ground through a 80 meter long tunnel, with exits along the way, that was 1,2 meter high and 0,8 meter wide. The real tunnels were smaller but these were enlarged for tourists to go through. It was not scary or anything but the realisation that Americans went in there while there were no lights and they didn't know what to expect is quite terrifying.

In the afternoon it was time to say goodbye. Daan needed to leave after 2,5 awesome weeks. Thanks for coming over bro, appreciate it a lot. Had a blast with you and hope you enjoyed it as well.

Accompanied by Philipp I started my travel towards the North of Vietnam. First stop is Mui Ne, about 5 hours from HCMC. Sand dunes, beach and relaxation are the major attractions. Cheers!