Hello! We are still a bit behind with our blog so thought we would backtrack a few days and finish telling you about Ho Chi Min City (Saigon).

After our great night at the Irish Pub, we had a nice lie in and then set out to explore the city. We had booked a night train to our next destination and had until 11pm to roam the city before we could leave! There aren't a huge amount of sights in Saigon so we kind of felt stuck in a city again. Obviously there is a lot of reference to the war and we expect that in all of Vietnam. We really didn't feel like going to a war museum or looking at old army tanks so followed a 'walking trail' in our guidebook. However, it was so hot that we gave up after about 15 minutes and got taxis instead!

Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral in the middle of the city. It was built in 1877 and is really used by foreign travellers now although there is a large Christian following in Vietnam. We couldn't go in unfortunately (and wanted to as it was the day before Easter Sunday) but took some nice photos of the outside. Near to the Cathedral is the post office which is a landmark in itself. Much nicer than the one in Leighton Buzzard! We've taken some nice photos and tried to upload them today but it's not working so we will try again soon!

For lunch we went to a coffee shop which was a bit of a nightmare as they tried to serve Matt the most awful lunch and then when he changed it, the replacement was even worse! It was meant to be a potato and ham salad but when it arrived it was literally soggy chips mixed with marie rose sauce, a few lettuce leaves and ham shavings on the top. Yuk! We didn't want to complain again and the service was so awful (there was about 10 waiters/waitresses just staring and pointing at us when we complained the first time). Very awkward.

Our afternoon entertainment consisted of going to the 'Botanical Gardens' which were also recommended in our guidebook. Saigon is pretty busy and full of traffic and noise so we wanted to get close to some green grass and trees and the gardens sounded pefect. What we didn't realise was that the gardens are attached to a typical Asian Zoo which means lots of animals trapped in tiny cages. It was horrible to see and we sort of stumbled across it whilst walking though the gardens. There was a group of local men pointing through the railings and shouting at the lions which was really distressing as the lions were getting more and more wound up and pacing up and down the cage. We have never more wished that a lion would break out of the cage and attack someone! There was also a really rubbish 'fun fair' with rusting squeaky rides for kids and when we saw that we decided it was time to go. Luckily we only paid about $1 to get in!

We spent the rest of the day pretty much eating and drinking coffee and then caught the night bus to Nha Trang, our next destination. The Vietnamese trains are so much nicer that the Chinese ones and we had a compartment of 4 with a door that locked so we felt much safer than we have on other trains. It was only 6 hours so we arrived in Nha Trang at 6am on Easter Sunday and took a taxi to our accommodation. We'll update our adventures in Nha Trang when we can next get to a computer and hopefully upload some photos too! xx