We woke up pretty early today, around 8:30 and left as soon as we were ready. We walked up passed the newyork-esque boulevard and up to the crazy roundabout. It took a while to cross until we got to cho ben thanh market again. I was still in the lookout for the elephant trousers that are popular in Thailand and have all the backpackers floating around in. As soon as we walked in we were bombarded with people trying to sell us things, it's an indoor market with loads of stalls and narrow aisles to walk through and as i was walking along i looked back and Daniel wasn't behind me. Panic set in. I began frantically walking around the market searching through aisles of sunglasses and clothes to find him but i had no luck. I had accepted the fact that i had lost him and now i also felt lost as i'm not entirely sure of the way back to the hotel either and as i was walking through the market to go back out to the roundabout i saw his head sticking out from the crowd and relief rushed through me, i gave him a b******ing for losing me although i think he did it on purpose to teach me a lesson.

We crossed over the roundabout to a statue of Tran Nguyen Han where our walking tour of Old Saigon starts. It's a great little route for District 1 which allows you to see famous sites of Ho Chi Minh City. Once we crossed the death magnet that is the roundabout we walked down a few roads until we passed the Fine Arts Museum. We didn't go in but appreciated the architecture of the building. Vietnam are quite big on art as there are also lots of art shops with copies of famous paintings and intricately painted images of buddha and Jimi Hendrix. We walked on a road where shop after shop was selling fine pieces of furniture and art, the road is a famous antiques hot spot.

Our route then took us through a small street market where locals gathered to buy and sell all sorts such as hijabs, fruit, veg, clothes, toys, meat and large bowls filled with water and live crabs and eels and shrimps. One the the crabs i spotted was still alive and foaming at the mouth and i noticed that their claws had been bound by pieces of fabric. After the market we turned right onto a street that led us to a boulevard type road with the Bitexo financial tower, and if i didn't know any better, looking at it you would think you are in new york. A lot of Hi chi minh city has similarities to new york such as the bright lights that shine at night like those in tines square and the electric, busy atmosphere of the city in general. Nothing compares to New York however.

Our walk then led us by the river, which is nothing much to be honest as it's quite dirty but it was nice to walk along gazing at the reflections of buildings and birds on the laminate surface of the river. We crossed the road to get a better look at the statue of Tran Hung Dao which was overlooking the river front before we crossed over and made our way through small side streets like you would find near bond street. I noticed a few designer shops such a Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton but the icing on the cake was looking through the window of the Christian Loboutin shop, one day Mimi, one day.

We crossed the road over to the park that faces the Municipal Theatre (now called Saigon Opera House) and while in the park a man began to clean Daniel's flip flops so we sat down with a drink while he scrubbed at the orange rubber on the sole. It cost 100,000D for the clean which is extortionate, around $5, so Dan bargained it at 70,000. Through the park and to the right is another park which houses a famous statue of the City's idol: Ho Chih Minh. It stand between beautiful plants and flowers in the middle of an up market boulevard and stands in front of the people's committee building which isn't open to the public unfortunately but the architecture was enough to look at and you can see the french influence in the building.

Next stop on our tour was the Notre Dame Cathedral which actually does look like it was plucked from normandy and placed in Vietnam. To build the cathedral they got a lot of the materials from France which shows. It's not a grand as you would hope but it's nice to look at. As you walk through the gates you're welcomed by a statue of Mary set in front of the cathedral but she stands perfectly between the two steeples of the church. There were lots of newlyweds getting wedding photographs taken here and across the road at the central post office which is where we headed next.

It's a very grand building for a post office and was heaving with people. It looks more like a museum to be honest and as we walked up the steps and inside it was so busy and there were even a few stalls inside selling souvenirs. There were different baskets with little bits and bobs to buy in them such as hair clips and fine combs that look like ivory and i spotted a basket with pipes. I found a cool looking one in the shape of a dragon which isn't too big either so i bought it as a gift for Alex as all of the snake skin wallets he's asked me for look tacky and Nigerian.

We visited a place called Turtle Lake in the middle of a roundabout which is like a small lake with concrete walkways going over it in different directions. We sat here for a while before heading to the War Remnants museum. We got there at around 12:00 and it opens at 13:30 so we found a cafe to have a drink. We got ice cold green tea for free with our beer, i ordered San Miguel light and Dan went for a Sapporo. Dan was going to order lunch but didn't because i wasn't hungry; i haven't been for the passed three days now it must be the heat. Once we polished off our beers we walked toward the museum as it was now open.

Before you step inside the building, the front is filled with actual American fighter jets and tanks and a helicopter which was interesting to walk around and look at, especially ad you could peer into the cockpit and look at all the different controls of a machine used to murder so many people. We both went around the museum separately, there were three floors with two exhibitions on each floor. There were collections of photographs taken in the war. Some were really hard to look at as there were photos of dead corpses of mothers and their children left to rot on the road and just loads of really harrowing, awful photos. There was also an exhibition about Agent Orange and the effect the deadly chemical has had on many generations of vietnamese people. There were old and new photos of people with deformities and learning difficulties as the americans spread the toxin all over farm land and villages.

After a good look around the museum we headed onto Reunification Palace which is the building in which the president would stay, very similar to the white house or 10 Downing street and was the building that was invaded by the vietnamese army to bring down the president at the time. We went separately around the massive buildings looking into all the different rooms like the grand dining room, the congregation room and so on. We went up to the roof and saw the amazing view of the fountain in the courtyard and the bustling city of mayhem that surrounds the palace. I then went down to the bunker where there were loads of hallways and rooms for communications and a room with all the military action plastered across the walls on maps in the small office. There were loads of hallways that were blocked off and steps leading even deeper and i wish i could have seen what was down there. Reminds me of the time i was at 10 Downing street and mum was walking around tapping the sole of her shoes on the floor trying to find the secret tunnels.

We made our way out the exit and walked back to the area of our hotel where Dan booked a tour to the Chu Chi tunnels for the following morning. We went back into our room which is always a pleasure as the air conditioning is a god send and chilled out until we got hungry enough to eat. Dark Knight Rises was showing on the TV which i watched for a bit. We left to get something to eat and as we were walking out i spotted Abbey and Sam who we met at Kong lo Cave sitting to the left but i didn't really want to say hi as i couldn't be arsed to socialize. We went to a small cake shop for a slice of sweet goodness before dinner as we didn't know if we would have a proper meal. I got carrot cake which was cold and soft and so yummy. It's a cafe set up to help employ people of the community so i was all for it, i'd consume cake for a good cause any day. Once we finished we continued walking around looking at all the sites.

We ended up sitting facing the street in a small restaurant. I ordered Pho Bo with chicken which is a delicious, traditional Vietnamese noodle soup and Dan went for eggs, bacon and toast but didn't eat much at all as he said it all tasted sweet. After settling the bill we went for a walk to find a bakery. We passed a donut shop ad a posh cake and chocolate shop until we found a barrow bakery with pastries displayed along the left wall and trays to help yourself. I chose a sausage and cheese pastry taco thing and an apple danish and dan had the same sausage thing and a pain au chocolat. We walked back slowly to the main area with our hotel and went into a shop selling loads of colourful sleeveless tops. They had the design that i loved when i saw a man wearing it; the head of a buddha with headphones on. Peace and music on one t-shirt and i am all about that life! After browsing around we left with nothing so we could have a think about what we wanted. We went back to the hotel and watched some TV while we ate our pastries which were delicious.