Hello All from Vietnam's capital city Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon as it is known by locals).

We left Vung Tao in alot less cramped bus surprisingly on our way to HCM. IT was evident to see even in the surrounding suburbs of the city that it was just over run with moped drivers. The most disturbing thing i have seen on our travels if not in my life was the body of a young moped driver lying in a pool of blood with his head literally in half about a meter from my bus window. Was absolutely horrendous to see but when you see the way people drive over here i am sure that its a normal occurrence for a death if not a couple a day.

Anyway we arrived in the centre at around 12 noon via two Moped taxi drivers that took us to our hotel no problem, checked in, dumped our bags and headed out to explore the city. We were provided with a very accurate map for our hotel so all the sights were just about walkable. We stopped for lunch at a Western kind of restaurant where B had some Carbonara and i had Beef Satay with Rice. Was deliiiiiiiiicous lol!

After our lunch we headed to the War Remnants Museum via the Reunification Palace which was basically on the same street. We never went into the palace, was good enough to see the exterior and after hearing a tour guide say to his group that there wasn't that much to see inside we moved on. The War Museum on the other hand we spent around 2/3 hours in as there was so much too see. There was everything from old US Army Tanks and Fighter Jets to Old Disarmed B-52 bombs. These were all outside along with a mock up Jail which had a very in depth display off how the Americans tortured their prisoners, was shocking to read but very interesting. Inside the main building there were 3 floor of huge displays. The one we were most moved by was the Agent Orange (Chemical Bomb) display and how it is still affecting people today. The other displays were on Pre and Post War history, The American and IndoChina Wars themselves which almost consisted of two floors. The Museum was a definite highlight of Vietnam, both left feeling that we had learned so much.

After the museum we wandered around the centre of town, visited the Notre Dam Cathedral which was nice to see. We found a shopping mall where J bought new genuine Havaianas flip flops as the fake ones he bought in Thailand were very worn to say the least. We grabbed an ice cream and wandered to the Saigon River to take a look, wasn't anything picturesque but the main road running along it was. Literally 100's of Mopeds flying in every direction weaving in and out of every odd passing car or van. We had done alot of walking that day so opted for two moped taxis to take us the 1 1/2kms back t our hotel. There was only 1 bike so the two of us hopped on with the driver to enjoy whizzing through the city streets. The driver was mental, we were driving up the wrong side of the road to U-Turn which was the scariest thing we have both experienced but quite enjoyable at the same time lol. We got back to our hotel safe and sound and enjoyed some Noodle Soup with Spring Rolls that was included in our room price so was a very enjoyable first day in Ho Chi Minh's back garden.

Our 2nd day we booked a tour to head to the Famous Cu Chi Tunnels 125Kms from the centre of HCM. The tunnels were built by the Gorilla Warriors residing in Cu Chi for the villagers and fighters alike to hide out from the Americans. This vast network of tunnels were amazing to read and hear about from our guide. During our visit we got to go down into 1 level of the tunnels which had been widened for tourists to visit but was still unbelievably cramped. Was hard to believe people actually lived down there merely 20/25years ago. Around the tunnels there were numerous displays off the actual living quarters that had been dug up and renovated. There were also actual bomb craters caused by the 10000's of B-52 bombs that were dropped when the Americans final found out the location of some of the tunnels. All in all a very interesting experience again. We headed back to the City centre from the Tunnels site and relaxed most of the afternoon after figuring out our next port of stop.

Went out at night to find a bar with Wi Fi as our hotels one had crashed and finally booked our accommodation for The Full Moon Party when we get back to Thailand. After few beers headed back to hotel for early night and watched The Hangover II i managed to download from Torrent site so all in all had a very enjoyable/informative time in HCM City.
Next stop in My Tho in the Mekong Delta where we are currently sitting on the minibus writing this blog. A Vietnamese young fella has a Samsung Android and has just informed us we can connect to his Internet through it, nothing beats slumming it with the locals lol.

Until the Mekong...
J + B