Brilliant city! The inevitable comparison, Saigon in the south with Hanoi up north, and for us Saigon won hands down. We'd heard it was more chaotic than Hanoi, but whilst I admit there may be twice as many motorbikes swarming the streets (and pavements too, at rush hour!) of Saigon, the roads are four times as wide, so there was no repeat of Hanoi's claustrophobia. We could definitely walk and seek things out at the same time! And in my humble opinion, Saigon comes out on top in most other aspects too. Friendlier, more laid back, and yet no less an exciting place to be in. The backpacker hub has a much better atmosphere, for those reasons I've just mentioned, with a greater selection of bars, and nicer food in nicer restaurants. And then outside of the centre and the backpacker hub, the rest of the city, at least what we saw, just seemed more genuinely Vietnamese, with less of a French collonial feel. This may or may not actually be the case, architecturally, but it was the impression we came away with. Although it occurs to me that this all makes it sound as though we didn't like Hanoi, which isn't the case at all (well, for me, anyway; Paula generally doesn't much like larger cities full stop!), but we simply thought Saigon was better.

And the arrival of Sara, swapping snow for sun and sand for two months! Yes, someone for Paula to have "girl conversations" with, cause for celebration for both of us! And all in all, our four day stint in Saigon was a pretty sociable affair! Erik and Puck caught up with us again, having braved the beaches of Mui Ne and popped into Dalat while we'd made the leap from Hue/Hoi An straight to Saigon, and an added bonus, Erik's birthday was on the Sunday, the day after Sara's arrival. And following Paula's fine selection of Indian cuisine for her birthday meal in Hoi An, Erik made the fantastic decision to follow suit (and impressively proceeded to devour a vindaloo, with not a drop of sweat to show on his brow!) - curry twice in a week, brilliant! Then, on the following night, numbers at the dinner table increased yet again, when we also hooked up with Shawn and Sabeen, who we'd previously met in Ninh Binh a couple of weeks earlier. So plenty of fun, and a slight stretching of our daily travel budget to incorporate trips to a few of Saigon's bars!

The other good thing about Saigon was the fact that we finally managed to touch upon some of Vietnam's recent, and most well known, history, namely the Vietnam War (or, as I think I've mentioned before, what they call here "The American War"). We visited the Cu Chi tunnels, where Viet Cong hid from American soldiers so close (about 30km) to the the American HQ, i.e. Saigon. Also, the Reunification Palace, once the symbol of the South Vietnamese government, but deserted since communist tanks rolled in over the gates in 1975, and the War Remnants Museum, which has a fantastic exhibition of photos taken by wartime photographers from around the world (many of whom died during the conflict), as well as an account of much of Vietnam's 20th century history, mainly post WWII, including the end of the French collonial rule, the Vietnam War, and the aftermath (all of which was tremendously biased, almost comically in places, with its use of what I would consider very unmuseum-like subjective adjectives in the texts, such as the "brave" Viet Cong or the "disgraceful" Americans!). But still an excellent account of events. The aftermath of the war, incidentally, predominantly relates to the long term effects of "Agent Orange", dropped in vast quantities by the Americans with the aim of destroying forest cover, but ultimately having a far greater impact on human health, with stillbirths, spontaneous abortions and horrendous birth defects affecting 2nd and 3rd generation Vietnamese.

The whole thing, though, has been strangely and unexpectedly unmentioned during our time in Vietnam, despite the relevance it must have to so many Vietnamese still alive. A marked contrast to other countries we've visited, such as Poland (WWII / Cold War) and Bosnia / Croatia (Balkan Wars), where we found plenty of references, in the form of museums and monuments, but also felt some sort of shared, national emotion, be it either sadness at human loss, pride at victory, or anger at past oppression. I don't know why this is, perhaps just a preference to move on, or maybe the most recent war is viewed as less significant than we'd expect in a country with a history of almost constant wars for centuries on end, but there you go, that's just how it is.

Just one last thing I wanted to mention, though. A small, quoted paragraph in the War Remnants Museum, given no particular significance amongst the other texts and displays, but which struck me as noteworthy. By President Eisenhower, Aug 4th 1953, Conference of State Governers in Seattle (in reference to America's funding of the French military, who at the time were desperately trying to cling onto power in Vietnam), it reads "Suppose we lost Indochina. If that happened, tin and tungsten, to which we attach such a high price, would cease coming. That is why when the United States decides to give an aid of 400 million dollars to this war, it does not make a gratuitous offer. In reality, we have chosen the least costly means to prevent one of the most terrible things for the United States, for its security, its strength, and the possibility to obtain what it needs among the riches in Indochina and South-East Asia". And I thought they were there fighting for "freedom and liberty" or something? Something about that sentiment seems strangely familiar, doesn't it?...

Anyway, not leaving on a low note, because we certainly didn't, with plenty more Saigon Green beers on our last night in the city! Next leg, off to the Mekong Delta for some boat rides and fresh fish!