so...that night I was flying to Saigon, also called Ho Chi Minh City after the great Uncle Ho himself. Anyway, had an absolute touch, and got bumped up to business class, free food and drink, and hot face-towels all the way through the flight- thats when you know your travelling in style, hot face towels. Just a shame that the flight was only an hour and a half, I couldve happily stayed there all night!

Had one of the busiest and best days so far yesterday. We started early, 8am, and headed to the Cu Chi tunnels, which were built by the VietCong during the vietnam war. In all, the tunnells stretched 150km, and were built on 3 levels, with only just about enough room for 1 person to squeeze through. the entrance to the tunnells was tiny, and I'm hardly the slightest of builds what with all the muscle ;-) so it was a bit of fun crawling through. The guide laughed though when one person asked if that was the actual size, he said the originals are only half that size! There were lots of other interesting exhibits showing traps set for soldiers, using bamboo spears and rotating covers to catch you-they looked mean! often they preferred to merely mame or disable the soldiers, as then the battalion would have to take them to safety, whereas they would not really bother as much if the guy was dead. There was a firing range too which I will come to in a minute, but the shots ringing in the background made a nice soundtrack for creeping through the woods pretending to hunt VietCong..and yes, I am still 5 years old. lol. It also showed minute smoke distribution tunnells so that they could cook and heat things underground without being found. The Americans in retrospect, had no chance.

At the same place they had old tanks and planes, but more interestingly, guns. Yes, I fired my first rounds of live ammunition from first, an AK47, and then a handgun. It was $1 a bullet, so I was quite happy to take my time and aim at the targets, but there was an ex-soldier standing over me who every time I shot, he would shout "ÄGAIN, AGAIN"so i ended up going guns blazing like a maniac, and fired off all my shots in the space of 20 seconds! Some power and noise though, it really does shock you when you fire, even though you know its coming!

That afternoon we headed for the War remnants museum in the centre of the city. It had tanks, planes, choppers and anti-aircraft guns which were used, and also they had bombs, huge ones, almost as big as cars, and also cluster bombs, which did huge damage. Inside was a photographic account of the war, and it wasnt too biased, unlike the earlier prisons I had visited. It showed brutal images of death, torture, and everything that comes with war, but a few things shocked me, like the 2 massacres by American soldiers, one of which in MyLai is thought to have resulted in 500 civilian deaths, mostly women and children. It also paints a far from rosey picture of the aftermath, and the effects of Chemical warfare (napalm and agent orange) which still cause deformities and illness today. Very interesting, gruesome stuff.

That afternnoon I had a good walk around the city, wich lived up to its reputation as a bit of a madhouse. The bikes are even more abundant, the cars beep more, and in the middle of it all, are the most daring pedestrians I have ever seen! I suppose practice makes perfect, but get it wrong and you might end up along with the other 40,000 killed on the roads in Vietnam every year!!

That evening we got on these cyclos- which are basically pushbike taxis, and got taken on a tour of the business district which is vibrant and colourful, and not short of a few quid. I felt like a bit of a spaz though because at one point, matey who was pushing me had to get off and push the (what was in effect a) converted hospital bed up the hill, in the traffic, with me just sitting in it like a lemon! We got dropped at a restaurant where I had the nicest food of the trip so far. Bsically, you order your meat, rice and drinks and tell them what marinade you want. Thn they bring you out a tiny coal burning barbeque held in a wooden base, and let you barbecue the meat yourself, which is great fun. we ordered prawns, beef, ostrich and kangaroo, which were all delicious, then I ate something I thought I never would...RAT! no lie, it came all barbecued up in lttle pieces, so I thought- what the hell, and bit into it. F*cking Rotten. I thought it was a bit boney at first until i realised i was actually chewing on the little fella's claw!! That made me feel quite ill as you can imagine, so just stuck to kangaroo after that! "When in Rome" backfired this time lol.

After that we headed top a club called Apocalypse Now, which whilst sounding grungy, was actually a really cool club, save for the dirty sex tourists who are all about 60, just standing there perving and thinking theyre great. sickos, I just always feel sorry for the girls. Oh yer, I met probably the biggest person in South East Asia, a German, called Hans, who as you will see in the pics, absolutely dwarfs me and this other bloke. Nice fella, but I reckon the Watford Fist could have probably handled him eh Derm? lol

Today was a long drive from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh. I am now in Cambodia, in an internet cafe, which are everywhere, lol, and there was me thinking I was going to be all exotic. Happy Valentines day too xxx