Its 6am when we arrive in Saigon, the roads are buzzing as expected and its a humid 35 degrees. I had a sleepless night on the bus and in this heat I have the potential for extreme mardyness. To get to our hostel we walk through a market selling fish and mystery meats, the smell is unbearable.

At 8:30am we leave for the Cu Chi tunnels, one of the most famous remnants from the Vietnam war. I don't know much about the war but our tour guide is excellent and gives us a brief history of the cause of the war and how the Cu Chi tunnels became such an integral part of the Vietcong war. Once we arrive we are shown a short propaganda video from Cu Chi which describes the transformation of the peaceful farming land of Cu Chi to the war sticken flattened fields caused by as the film describes them the American pesky flying devils. We are then given a tour of the town and shown bomb craters and the torture traps the people of Cu Chi set up and disguised around the fields. The set up and clever architecture of the tunnels is explained to us, and we are given the choice to squeeze into one of the original tunnel entrances. The enterance is in complete disguise from trees and leaves and is only a foot wide, from standing it seems impossible any of us are going to fit in. But to our surprise even the tallest and widest of boys fit in with ease (including Tom), they slip into the hole in the ground with their arms in the air and replace the hatch on top when they are underground. They they disappear for a few seconds before freaking out and rushing up for air.

We are now given the option of firing guns. Toms eyes light up as he peruses his weapon of choice ranging from an AK47 to the mighty rambo something or other. He soon changes his mind when the price is brought into the conversation and you can only buy bullets in multiples of 10.

Finally we reach the tunnels suitable for tourists. They have been made wider and taller for our convenience and our love of confectionary delights. The tunnel we are able to go in is 100m long, there are exits every 20m incase claustrophobia gets the better of us. Its so hot inside the tunnels, there is no light and you either have to crawl on all fours or crouch on your knees. By 20m its too hot for me and my quads are about to give in so I get out. Tom managed the whole 100m, after 80m the tunnels alot get smaller to give us a more realistic experience so I don't know how he managed it.

We have plans to meet up with our friends from the Halong Bay trip again for dinner so before meeting them we walk around the markets. Im after some bargain Converse, the cheapest I find them for is £6 but they are so obviously fake it is a waste of money.

Now what happens next is the most frightening thing to ever happen to me and the first bad experience to occur in our 5 weeks here. Whilst walking to our friends hotel down a main street a motorcycle with 2 men on mounts the pavement and trys to steal my bag!

He drives past me grabbing my handbag which is over my shoulder dragging me along with him. I scream and burst into hysterical crying. Thankfully he drove away empty handed, all that he caused was a tear in my Mums leather handbag. It was all over within a matter of seconds. Tom was a few steps ahead and there was absolutley nothing he could of done apart from try to calm me down which he failed at as I was in a complete state of shock and in an uncontrobable fit of tears. A shop owner takes me in and gives us both a glass of water and a wet tissue to clean my face. She was so lovely, she told us this happens a lot in the area and kept repeating " Stop crying hunny you are safe now " she was so kind. It wasn't until later that evening whilst Tom was reading the guidebook he tells me that the area is notorious for cowboy bag snatches. Im a nervous wreck for the rest of the evening. I flinch at every quick noise behind me, and burst into tears in panic when someone drives behind me on a motorbike again.

I decide to stay out for dinner with our friends determined not to let the scum ruin my evening but that night whilst laying in bed I can't relax and go to sleep. My eyes are fixed on the door thinking someone is going to come in. I eventually tire myself out from stress and drift off.

Day 2 -

I don't really want to be in this city anymore and ask if I can spend the day in the comfort of the hotel room but I really know this is never going to be an option. Vietnam was the country I was most looking forward to visiting and what happened last night has put a horrible end to our stay here. There are so many friendly, helpful people here its easy to let your guard down and become very trusting of a place. But today is a new day, a very rainy torrential thunder storm day which means only one thing, museums!

We make our way to the War Remnants Musuem. I don't think I was fully prepared for what I was about to see, I don't know whether it was because I am still feeling pretty fragile from last night but the horrendous graphic photographs from the war just filled me with sadness and I was constantly fighting back the tears. I often had to leave the room as the displays and exhibitions were just too much. I feel a lot of anger as Im walking around here and its hard to comprehend how such torture and pain can be caused by human beings. Children today are stll affected by the Americans action to drop Agent Orange all over Vietnam. I have learnt that Agent Orange is a chemical gas which destroys and alters a persons DNA. Just 85g is enough to kill a city of 8 million inhabitants. Children today are still being born with defects such as missing limbs, oversized limbs, missing organs and terrible illnesses and diseases. Its so sad looking at pictures of babies who's mothers have abandoned them in hospital due to their defects, one photo showed a picture of a child with 3 heads.

We walk out of the musuem in a pretty sombre mood with the weather to match. Its still pouring it down so we head to the next musuem which is the Reunification Palace. This palace is stuck in time since the palace gates were stormed down and the palace invaded by North Vietnamese forces in 1975. The President surrenderd and the palace has stood still in time since then. There are still pieces of bomb scattered over the rooftop helipad.

I don't want to be out on the streets this evening so we head back to the hotel early in preperation for the 2 day boat trip to Cambodia in the morning.