An early start today... we were collected from our hotel before 8am and led to a small coach - our transport for the day! We were heading for two of the main sights around Ho Chi Minh City - the Cao Dai Great Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels.

It turned out that we had a brilliant guide who was very funny and kept us all entertained on the long bus stints throughout the day! On our way out of the city, he told us all about the motorbikes in the city. Apparently in a city of ten million people, there are five million motorbikes on the road, all fighting their way through the city streets. He explained that to get a girlfirend, you needed a motorbike, as the girls in the city won't walk anywhere! He also told us that there are thousands of people killed on the roads in Vietnam every year - maybe they're not as good drivers as we thought!

Our first stop was the temple, where worshippers of the Cao Dai religion meet four times daily for prayers. Cao Daism is a twentieth century religion, founded in Vietnam and is a mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam! It was founded by a mystic called Ngo Minh Chieu in 1926 and has attracted two to three million followers worldwide, the vast majority of whom live in Vietnam. They believe in communication with the spirit world through seances and their aim is to escape the cycle of reincarnation by lving 'good' lives. We arrived at the temple in time for the noon prayer session, and we started with a wander around the amazing building. We saw worshippers, dressed in white robes, begin to arrive as we walked around. Above the front door of the temple is the divine, all-seeing eye - the main symbol of Cao Daism.

Inside, the temple is built over nine levels, representing the nine steps to heaven. At the far end, there was a huge, star-covered globe suspended from the ceiling with the divine eye painted on it - it was watching us wherever we went, and was a powerful symbol! As the ceremony was about to begin, we headed upstairs to the upper balcony level, and watched as the worshippers filed in and took their positions on the first few steps of the temple. We watched as they prayed for a while, then quietly made our way back to the bus. A fascinating glimpse into one of the lesser known religions of the world...

After another long-ish drive, we arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels, which became legendary during the Vietnam war for allowing the Viet Cong to control a large area so close to Ho Chi Minh City. At its height, in Cu Chi alone, there were more than 250km of tunnels, which included living areas, storage areas, kitchen, command centres and hospitals! The entrances to the tunnels were concealed in ingenious ways, including trapdoors and entrances under termite mounds! The Viet Cong also set a range of traps using bamboo spikes, including a see-saw trap - all very gruesome ways to go! The Americans tried and failed to locate the tunnels before sending men, known as 'tunnel rats' underground, where they sufferred high casualty rates. They also tried to send down sniffer dogs but the Viet Cong began washing with American soap to put them off their scent!

Finally, in the late 60s, the Americans resorted to carpet bombing the entire area, which finally destroyed the tunnels, although by then, the USA were already on their way out of the war and the tunnels had served the purpose for which they'd been designed and built. Our guide led us around the area, showing us weapons used, how they used to enter the tunnels adn the sort of rooms they had underground. The last part of the tour was a chance to crawl along up to 100m of one of the original tunnels, which has been widened so that tourists can fit through! Once inside, it quickly became really difficult to move without crawling on our hands and knees and the heat underground was incredible; we decided to use one of the early exits after 20m! It's hard to imagine people living under there for months at a time, but the strategy was brilliant! Not for us though...

After an hours drive back to Ho Chi Minh City in rush hour (more crazy motorbike driving!) we went out to eat at a restaurant on the main backpacker street. It did seem to be filled with men who'd picked up ladies for the night (and one who'd picked up a man!) but the food was excellent! I had Vietnamese grilled chicken and Laura had a delicious Vietnamese curry.l We also called in at a beauty place for Laura to have her toenails painted for a bargain price!

On the way back to the hotel, we called in at a shop for some snacks for the bus tomorrow before going back to pack - off to Nha Trang and the beach tomorrow!