The border crossing this time was a lot more smooth. Off the bus, stamped out if Cambodia, on the bus to next stop, take bags and get stamped into Vietnam, on the bus to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. A comfortable bus with free water and two pastries each, score :) We arrived at around 4pm, too late to do the little half day tour I'd planned. The first thing I noticed was even more bikes than Phnom Penh; is that even possible? We found our guesthouse easy enough, Thuan Duc, and walked to the 4th floor with our bags. The room was ok (this time it was Kennys turn to complain; the last place had been so nice and new, this place was tired and uncomfortable but significantly cheaper; this is what happens when you spend a fortune in Cambodia! And have to save now in Vietnam.) We headed out onto the crazy bui vien rd, and there are just bikes everywhere. We found a nice little noodle restaurant and had amazing stir fry noodles; I practically licked the plate. If all Vietnamese food was as good as that, we are in for a treat!! Then sat in a cafe, just to people watch. Got my daily fix of mango so I was happy. We stumbled across a park, that first attracted us by the techno dance music, random. It was a Vietnamese get fit dance class. One for locals and one for locals and foreigners, funny. Also people running, roller skating and playing badminton, alongside numerous rats scurrying around, making us scream and jump as one ran straight for our feet. We decided to go back to guesthouse to try and skype but no luck. Kenny was fascinated by the number of rats coming out of the house nearby, yuk!

The next day we were up early and to Sinh tourist office for our 2d/1n Mekong Delta adventure. We had a long drive until the first stop but the tour guide filled us in on Vietnam:
Hcmc has 10million people and they have 7 million motorbikes. They export a lot including worldwide:
No.1 for cashew nuts and pepper
No.2 for rice
No.3 for coffee.
The Vietnamese pay 5 taxes on everything.
The people of the Mekong delta are very happy; they live a more relaxed lifestyle compared to those of the cities, even though they are sometimes beneath the bread line.
Farmers farm rice for 9months of year in 3 cycles, then it floods so instead they fish.
When we arrived to the 1st little city on the Mekong delta, we went on a boat trip. The water was very muddy, not somewhere I'd like to swim but we did see people bathing in or with it (washing their hair with a bucket of water over the side of the water) and those who lived on their boats. The guide educated us along the way. We started going into like little canal ways, and we had another stop. This stop we were given lots of different fruits to try including (brown skin....) and also tried royal honey tea, (honey made by the queen bees) not my favourite, tasted like cough syrup. We also watched a Vietnamese performance where they sang in Vietnamese, played their traditional instruments and wore their traditional dress. It was certainly interesting. Next we stopped somewhere that they made coconut candy. It was soo good, addictive. We bought some pandan leaf flavour. They showed us how to make them and let us try the different flavours. They saw they are 'healthier' sweets as they have no added sugar. Also taught us that at 6months old, the coconuts are perfect to drink. Compared to 5months when not ripe enough and 7months when they are no longer sweet enough. Next we got in a wee boat, like a little wooden canoe that the Vietnamese woman steered with her feet. She also gave us the traditional pointy hats to wear, for a little sail to our next stop for lunch. That was an experience with chickens jumping up on the table and having to be chased sway, and eating an 'elephant fish' which did not look the most delictable. So my lunch mainly consisted of rice. But this is where I discovered the beautiful huge butterflies that Vietnam has on offer, like nearly the size of your hand, just soo pretty. Next we got on another style of tuk tuk and taken to one last boat. This time to make our way to the 4 star hotel that had been bigged up. It was ok, definitely not four straight by western standard but more comfortable than our previous bedroom. The evening was spent firstly having dinner, which we were accompanied by a Korean family and a lovely Japanese man. This was basically a whole pill of food sat down infront of us that we used chop sticks to grab and put inside rice paper. And also sour soup, which was very good. Afterwards we went to the local market, which was full of flowers for the new year celebration Tet, very beautiful but extremely busy. Found the food and drink area, and decided to get a bubble tea. They didn't speak English so basically they added every ingredient they had to our cup, including milk, which I don't like in it. So Kenny had a bubble tea. We really saw the locals starring here, as the tour guide said they rarely saw westerners. We even had a family stop and ask us where we were from and having a wee chat, all four of them on the one moped.

The next morning we were up early for the buffet breakfast. Mostly Vietnamese food but there's always a good omlette on offer. Next we hopped back on the bus then boat to the floating market. Unlike most of those in Thailand that are for tourists, this market is for locals and goes on regardless if tourists are there or not. So our boat sails up the middle an they row over and alongside the boat selling whatever they have. Fruit, veg, drinks, flowers, meat. Really interesting how the people live. You'll just see a while boat full of pineapple or cabbage. With our mangos in toe, we were happy. Next we sailed to a fruit garden and saw how all these local fruit grows; dragonfuit, mango, banana, milk apples, durian and lots more. I wish our fruit at home tasted this good. They had a pond created by a bomb that then homed the catfish. Next stop was back to the hotel for lunch, but we have this a miss and decided to see what we could find later on. We stopped at one more market on the way home, and the people didn't speak English. So after 10minutes walking around, we found a baguette, but had no idea what they were putting in it. It tasted good so happy enough. Another long ride back to HCMC, we followed the an Indian dinner at Baba's kitchen which had very nice staff and food.

Another early day... When will they end?! We are in desperate need of a lie in. But anyways, at 7.30am we made our way to the travel agents and got our Cu Chi tunnels half day trip. It took a long time to get there, with a stop by a craft place that made decorations, bowls, paintings, jewellery box etc from egg shells. Pretty cool seeing how they do it. Eventually we made it there and it was boiling hot. The place was packed with people which meant one tour group was ontop of eachother, but we got to do what we wanted to do. Eg I got to go inside a tunnel that I could barely fit my shoulders through, he covered it in leaves and you couldn't see it from above. (Whilst the dirt and dust is falling all over me inside.) we had a bit of a snack, they called it tapeoca? But it was cassava root to us, dipped in sugar. There was also the chance to shoot riffles, but we have it a miss as they were loud enough even from a distance. We we got back to the city, we headed to the war remnants museum. It was absolutely awful learning what happened during the Vietnam war: the torture and weapons (agent orange) are just indescribable, and still to this day cause congenial deformities. We didn't make it to all the floors as it was too depressing. Afterwards we visited Notre-dam basilica (very beautiful) and the post office, which is painted a hideous yellow colour and has been in operation for a long time.