Hello!

Vietnam has been brilliant for the last 2 weeks and we dont have a bad word to say about it. It has been our favourite country so far (although that may be due to the amazing weather!) and has been topped off in style with our trip to Saigon.

We arrived here yesterday morning and spent the day wandering the busy streets of this huge city. We got the wallets out again and splashed out on some amazing bargains. I picked up not one, not two but three new ski jackets and salopettes (not all for me though). And Lisa has the newest addition to her newly decorated bedroom back in England, a hand painted canvas of her favourite painting (The Kiss by some old painter guy). - GUSTAV KLIMT! - The shopping here is brilliant and we have fully enjoyed wandering through all of the backstreets to find the best bargains. We also had some famous 'Pho' (noodle soup to me and you) where Bill Clinton stopped for lunch! We also went to Ho Chi Min City Museum which was quite good, its interesting to see how the war is presented here - gotta love those Communists!

Today we went to Cu Chi to see where the Communist Vietnamese soilders tunneled underground to hide from the Americans. The tunnels are so small and narrow but there is a huge network that spans 250km. It includes kitchens and hospitals all on 3 levels. 16,000 people lived down there during the war.

We went around the museum to learn more about the war (although not the most impartial place to learn the facts - it refers to the Americans as a 'Crazy Batch of Devils' and seems to forget that the war was actually against South Vietnam). Then we went to the War Remnants Museum where there were some very disturbing photographs of the war and its aftermath. We also learned about Agent Orange - the toxin the Americans used that is so deadly that one tablespoon can kill a whole city of people. It was a really good museum, and interesting to see for ourselves the horrible effects of Agent Orange.

We are off to get our last meal in our beloved Vietnam now and a good sleep for our journey across the border tomorrow. We have heard that this border crossing is rip-off central so we will enjoy another battle of the wits to avoid parting with too much money! The little rascal taxi drivers have centainly got a few extra pennies from us here in Saigon. When we first arrived a driver took us all over town before arriving at our hotel. We later found out that the hotel was only 200 meters from where we started. I suppose it beat walking through unfamiliar streets at 4.30am and it only cost us 3 quid each and we got a free tour of the city (at night). Oh well!

Bye for now, next stop Cambodia!!