So it's day 2 òf mine and Laurens trip. It feels like we've been hêre much longer than we have already and thểre ís so much to take in! After our Etihad flights (which involved a run through Abu Dabi airport as the plane was delayed landing the rush to the connecting flight at 5am certainly woke us up)..we arrived safely in Ho Chi Minh. Xavier picked us up and took us to our hotel Huong Mai 2 which was very close to the ảiport and fancy, and he showed us down the street and to an ATM so we knew the area a little for the morning. We decided to get an early night, however wêre awoken by the loudest thunderstorm I've ever heard. In fact I turned to Lauren and said it sounded like the Avengers were having a battle out in the street.

Yesterday, we got up and made a plan to go into District 1 but first walked to a corner place to eat their local traditional 'Poh' dish for breakfast which was quite like a broth (boiling water wỉth noòdles and your choice of meat which you then put veg into). we stopped for our first Vietnamêse Coffee which we later realised we had drank wrong....there was a glass of ice we wêre supposed to pour it into and drink which at the time we were confúsed about. I've since had a few iced coffees which are deliciốus. Next a walk in the local park...I got shouted at to not go on the kids play area trampoline and some locals were fascinated by us and asked to practíce their English and take photos of us. Ít's at this point I realised what a giant I am against thế petite Vietnámese! They wêre fascinated to hear Lauren was a teacher and had no idea what Human Resoủces meant even after I tried to explain which was a bit embarrassing so Loz and I agreed going forwards I will prêtend I'm also a teacher to any Vietnamêse (no more awkward moments).

After Johnny the receptionist greeted us at our new hostel with fresh fruit- Town House 51, we booked up some trips and then went on out to explore...

First lesson learnt: Don't agree to do something before you've clarified a price, especially when you are new somewhêre and totally confused by the currency! Despite Loz and I enjoying our 2 hour trip in singular push bike-buggy type things (total health and safety disregard, I saw my life flash before my eyes several times whilst we wêre weaved in and out of the 'anything goes' traffic!) it was 1.5 million VD each - which yes is alot, 40 GBP. There wasn't much we could do so paid it and carried on into the wảr museum where we saw the actual price would have been more like 15 GBP each so accepted we'd been totally ripped off by John and Son.

The war museum was very depressing, I revisited in my head what I'd learnt at school and saw what the Viẻtnámêse have been through. Later on we went to the Opera house and saw a 1 hour show which was entertaining and reflected the culture in a magical way. After we ate dinner at a place Johnny had recommended (although I barely touched mine as I'm struggling to eat the meat out here even though it was a simple chicken drúmstick in a curry it's not like my mums cooking! - missing you here I was Mum).. we went onto find a bar with some live music and ended up at a place called Fang. After we'd got our pints in we realised it was a lesbian, gay and bisexuals night which was great fun, the two bands that played wêre fab. I had to restrain Loz from thinking they were a boyzone tribute act at one point after they sang one of their songs I hadn't realised before this point what a boyzone fan she was.....

We got home safely and struggled being quiet this mỏrning being in a 8 bed female dorm and having to consider the others whilst sorting ourselves out for our 8am call dównstairs. The next 2 hours on the bus was painful. I'm not going to lie, I had a bad hangover and our poor tourguide Rio (who I thought was a he and after referring to them as a he got corrected by Loz that Rio is a woman) and ventured onto see the war tunnels in Cu Chi.

Lesson 2 learnt: Don't drink the night before a long bus drive & trip and I probably shouldn't have so eagerly accepted what was a strange local concotion at the time - it was what looked like a mini aftershave bottle with bright green liquid in (could have been mistaken for absynth) which Rio told me on the bus to put a drop on my tongue to make me feel better. It was something really spicy and Loz followed suit having some and later declared she felt high. I genuinely think it was some sort of Vietnamese medicine as Rio said they use it whenever they get ill over there for all kinds of treatments. Either way it didn't work on us, an ice lolly and a fanta worked better.

The war tunnel trip was really interesting in seeing how they survived and fought while the war was going on. We even ventured down underground and crouched and walked in the smallest tunnel 20 ft (at this point I was thinking of my sisters cloustraphobia). You had the choice to pay and fire a gun which Lauren and I thought was weird to want to do after the war has finished and the place had a feeling of peace about it now to bring that aggression back but I guess its about making money and putting on an experience.

We chose to go Pizza Hut when we got back as my stomach was feeling delicate and I feel like I've lost weight already I'm barely eating what I would when I'm normally sat munching biscuits at work or being treated by my boyfriend to dinner.

We have a 6 hour drive sleeping on the night bus tonight. I'm glad I'm showered and ready to go again (although the cleanest I ever feel is up until 5 mins after my shower then I'm groggy again). Will catch up soon xxx