Saigon....just a bigger, hotter, noisier version of Hanoi really...but we like what we have seen so far :) The traffic is mental as ever, and crossing the road is so much more difficult here as the major roads have four lanes of potential death to dance across! Mac took a video of all the scooters waiting at the traffic lights (and got some really puzzled looks from the locals) you have to see it to believe it! We are staying just off Pham Ngu Lao which is the main backpacker area. Our taxi driver warned us not to stay there by mumbling something about heroin and muggings! It was all a ruse to get us to stay at his mates hotel, but its lovely so we cant complain! It's a bit of a splash oot at $12 but we have a swish bathroom with hot shower, cable tv, air con and a flowered balcony with views over the roof tops...lovely! We spent our first day exploring the area. Spent a while wandering around a local park...lots of wierdly sexual sculptures...fannys and willies all over the place! It was cool and shady though so a nice place to sit and try to figure out what the sculptures really were! The Reunification palace was interesting...built in the 60's mind you so not much to look at! It used to be the Presidential residence of Southern Vietnam so whoever was in charge could live in style and comfort while North Vietnamese struggled under Communism. This all ended in April 1975 when the Commies rolled some great big tanks over the lawn forcing the President to escape to a life of luxury and cheese burgers in America. The palace remains just as it was in 1975, so couldn't resist taking some classy photos of Mac posing with retro phone in hand in the presidents war room! The American War crimes museum was a bit of an eye opener, lots of upsetting photographs and babies in jars. But not an american tourist to be seen so that was a bonus! Took a day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels today, a network up to 10m underground built and lived in by the Viet Cong (Southern Vietnamese who supported Communism) They have kindly rebuilt some of them with extra girth for us wide arsed tourists so we got to have a little explore underground...you should have seen Macs face! Amusing photos to follow! Shopping here is canny, lots of little trinket shops for me to drag Mac into! Our backpacks are now full to the brim! Macs hair is growing back steadily thanks to all the sun...am sure he will look almost normal in a week or so! Next Stop Cambodia so will let you know the Crack from there... K&M xx