After our brief one day stopover in Chau Doc it was time to take the first leg of our unbelievably cheap country long bus trip to Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City). It was a good day to travel as it chucked it down with rain all day long although we did have to get wet by being forced to take a cycle tuk tuk first thing in the morning to pick up our mini bus. One of the quirks of travelling in this region is that how you get from A to B is never made very clear to you when you book a trip. It always seems to end up with several changes of vehicle which always leads to a bit of uncertainty and irritation although somehow you do seem to get to your desired destination in the end. Although this is early days in this country we noticed on the journey that there is considerably more infrastructure here then in Cambodia and it's also far more densley populated. After one change of bus at lunch, where naturally we were shovelled into a restuarant for lunch (the commission on these things is how the ticket is so cheap) we eventually got into Ho Chi Minh City around 5pm. Like Phnom Penh the motorcycle is the main form of transport although this city is five times the size and so you have five times the amount of motorcycle traffic making it quite a sight. You can see there's been a fair amount of overseas investment here so it more resembles Bangkok than Phnom Penh. We were excited to be here, not necessarily about the city but because we had two days of five star hotel accomodation booked, courtesy of some Marriot Hotel vouchers we received as a leaving gift from Stuart's swimming club (thanks yet again gang!!). We found it highly amusing turning up at such a plush hotel wearing shorts and tee-shirts and with our dirty backpacks. Our room was excellent, really luxurious and we made full use of the gym facilities which we needed to, it's been far too long since we've had any excercise! We just wandered around the city on our first full day and visited the war museum. This was fascinating but pretty disturbing as it featured photos and exhibits from the war and the regime that the Americans tried to prop up. Photo's of mutilated bodies and instruments of torture aren't anyones idea of fun but a bit like the Killing Fields in Cambodia it's something you need to see and appreciate. On our 2nd full day we had to check out of the 5 star luxury (sob) and move to more affordable $10 a night accomodation. We then had an abortive visit to a park a few km's outside the city centre. We were promised quirky exhibits but it turned out to be a pretty awful amusement park made considerably worse bv the sight of tigers and jaguars being caged in horrendous conditions (all too common in Vietnam it seems) so we got the hell out fast. To save a couple of bucks we took motocycle rides back which turned out to be a the hairiest ride of our entire trip as our riders sped back at break neck speed, going for impossible gaps amongst the traffic, no doubt to impress us. On our last day we visited a temple and the war tunnels (see above photo) which were used so effectively against the Americans in the war. We walked around 40 metres through one of them and damn hot, cramped and dark they were too plus we saw some examples of less than pleasant booby trap's made as a 'welcoming' gift for American soldiers. It's not a bad city all told; there's not a huge amount to do here but it's cheap, fun and whilst big, doesn't overwhelm you. We left on the evening of the 23rd for Mui Ne.