After a short flight from Bangkok we arrived at our first stop in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon still to the locals). Unlike Bangkok the airport is right in the centre of the city so we were straight into the thick of the traffic which is the most frantic, unorganised and busy you are ever likely to see. There are thousands of motorbikes teeming around the streets and there is literally no lane system, they just swarm around like bees. Crossing the roads is quite exciting if not dangerous, the key being not to make eye contact with anyone on a bike and they will just swerve around you! After the first day we were used to it and never really had any problems.

We stayed in a hostel on one of the main tourist streets but it was set back from the noise and hussle and was a great place to stay for the 3 nights we spent in the city. Due to arriving quite late on our first day we started to see the city the next day. We managed to cram in visits to the War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace and Notre Dame Cathedral into one day. The war museum was a fascinating display of both the French and American wars in southern and northern Vietnam. There were thousands of photos taken by journalists in the country, a lot of whom died taking them as well as army equipment, weaponary and even preserved foetus's that were deformed by the Americans use of Agent Orange. Some parts were quite distressing as the place really showed how brutal the violence and after-effects of the war were on the Vietnamese people. We eneded up spending about 4 hours at the museum!

We then went to see the Reunification Palace which was stormed by the north in 1975 which was the first stage of unifying the country once again. It had been renovated a fair bit but kept all the main conference and banqueting rooms where some of the key decisions from the war were made. It was a very impressive building with massive grounds located right in the middle of thecarnage that is Saigon! We also went to see the cathedral which was interesting to see as we'd spent the last two months only seeing temples and pagodas in the mainly Buddhist countries.

The next day we spent looking round the Ho Chi Minh City museum briefly before we went to the Botanical Gardens and Saigon Zoo. For a ridiculous 8,000 Dong (about 30p) we spent moat of the day sauntering round the grounds and seeing all the exotic birds and mammals. Our favourites were probably the Siberian tigers, porcupines and Orang Utans. There were also dozens of crocodiles in one enclosure which was really interesting to see. We finished the day eating in the Ben Than Market where all the local food is served up very cheaply. We just ordered anything we saw and hoped we liked it which we did! The Vietnamese taste is very different but great and we're looking forward to eating loads more as we venture north!

The following day we checked out of our room at noon and had until 7pm to hang around for our 9-hour bus to Nha Trang. We just caught up on emails and sampled a few French-style cafes that line the streets of the city. Nha Trang is next which supposedly has the best beaches in Vietnam. Let's hope they live up to the hype!