We arrived in Saigon at around six am and were dropped off outside the Sinh Tourist office. Here we left our bags and wandered off looking for a place to stay. We sampled a few guesthouses but they were either pretty pricy or simply dire, one even being a box with no window and shared bathroom all for twelve dollars... Now I know we are in Saigon but really? Shortly after we followed a lady who supposedly had a guesthouse and subsequently led us down some narrow alleyways before we found ourselves outside a house, her guesthouse didn't really appear to be a guesthouse and were simply rooms off what seemed to be a cluttered storage facility.

We politely declined and after wandering for a little longer we stumbled across a lady who ran a cafe/bookshop and offered us a room for ten dollars. It was pleasant but not ideal and the problem I was having was that I knew there were nicer rooms around for the same rate so couldn't settle. We decided to check out the wifi and see if we could locate the guesthouses I had seen (I've seen so many name she last week that I couldn't remember their names). We sat down and ordered a beer (I know its only seven am but it was the cheapest thing on the menu), we then jumped online and there it was... A hotel called 'Nguyet Van Hotel'... I remember it as it was well rated on trip advisor (100%) and for twelve dollars you got a lot for your money.

We headed off in search of the hotel, which was located a short distance from the backpacker area (a good thing in my opinion as quieter and more for your money). We found it easily and wandered down a narrow alley way and around the corner before we saw the building in front of us. On arriving we enquired about price and the receptionist said the price was two hundred and seventy thousand dong ($13), I then went into a story about how our friends (... well tripadvisor) had told us about this place and it was twelve dollars a night for a nice room. I then went overboard on the flattery and said we had heard such wonderful things about the hotel and could he do us a better rate. He said he would go to two hundred and fifty eight thousand (just over $12) to which I bargained further down to an even two hundred and fifty and he agreed... Bargain! He then showed us a room on the fifth floor with no lift and we accepted gratefully (after getting our breath back). The room was lovely and spacious with air con and bathroom, it also had a terrace overlooking the city and being on the top floor it was very quiet. The only thing missing was the fridge but the owner said we could swap to the room opposite, which was identical but with a fridge. I tried again to haggle further but no luck... If you don't ask you don't get.

We took the room and headed back downstairs, where we said thank you and headed off back into the muggy heat of Saigon. The room wasn't available till 11am so we had some time to kill and decided breakfast would be perfect. We wandered back to the backpacker area to explore and check out the shops while waiting for our room. On our way we found a small local eatery that sold com (rice) from twenty thousand, we ordered a delicious plate of rice, shredded pork and an egg cake. It was delicious and the cake really nice, it was kind of egg with pork and kind of like a frittata in a weird way. We finished and headed back to the Sinh tourist office to collect our bags before heading back to the hotel to wait for check in.

On arriving we chilled out in the lobby where Steven took advantage of the free wifi and I found a stash of girls magazines so caught up with the celebrity gossip in 'heat' and 'closer' from November last year. Just before eleven we took our bags and headed up to our room... The reception guy had gone home so a new guy gave us the keys to a room on the fourth floor as it was less of a climb. We headed up and checked out the room but it was a lot smaller and darker so Steven headed back down and said we would rather keep the other room we were shown. We were then given keys to a random room on the fifth floor which had a fridge and was really spacious and light but had poor wifi signal. I felt bad but I headed back down and explained that we didn't want to be a pain but...

The guy then said we could have the original room and he would move the fridge in to the room fir us, I said its fine we will just have the other room... This discussion went on as he couldn't really understand me and I couldn't really understand him. The housekeeper tried to help but we didn't get anywhere and in the end we were all in hysterics and couldn't stop laughing... It was really funny. Eventually I headed back up with the original room key and one of the hotel guys who then moved the fridge over to our room. It all seemed a bit of a hassle but the fridge is always important here as nice cold water goes diwn a lot easier. We eventually settled down in to our room and unpacked our stuff... We then showered and had a short nap before heading out to catch the rugby.

This afternoon the mighty British lions were playing their first test match against the Aussies and we didn't want to miss it. We headed into the backpacker area where we tried unsuccessfully to find some reasonably priced food. The local food (mainly com) was a good seventy thousand dong, which was just ridiculous. We eventually found a sweet older lady though who was selling Bánh mì for twelve thousand dong so we bought a couple and headed back towards the sports bars. The bars were stupidly expensive but I had already though of this and bought a water bottle full of the remaining vodka and Lao Lao that we had left over. Steven then ordered a beer and I had a coke, which I topped up with my cocktail discreetly... Was like being in uni again.

We then relaxed and watched the match, which we won and enjoyed the atmosphere before heading back for some food at Mrs P's... Was tastier today as she gave us a free soup, which was lovely and we enjoyed our meal greatly. We then strolled around the area to see it at night before heading back to the hotel where we curled up and watched some television before falling asleep... Tomorrow will be our last day in Vietnam.