Well i arrived in Saigon and checked into kate's hotel as she changed rooms - they actaully gave us a 4 bed one which meant that vic and ruth shared with us too. The guy who sat next to me on the bus got on and breathed very heavily into my face "sorry, im little drunk!" idiot! so he kept on stealin my leg space the whole journal - was not a happy bunny at all. Got to saigon and all of us were dressed and ready by 8 to go out even though my bus got in at 6 and the girls one got in at 7ish - good going by all. We met up with alex and were joined by loads of others and the downfall of the evening happened there. We decided to get a taxi (me, kate, alex, vic and gerald- ruth went back as still feelin rough from her big night in nha trang!) to Blue Gecko (place we found in lonely planet) but on the way alex pointed out that the only reason that KFC is allowed in Saigon is he ressemblance to Ho Chi Minh so thats when the joke of "ho chi minh chicken" started - it was so funny that even the taxi driver was laughin even though that was q an anti communist thing to say!! We get to blue gecko and it was dead but took advantage of the free shot and the dart board before heading to Apocalypse Now (another place we read about in lonely planet) - we go in a nd get shuffed into a corner where there were bout 7 other "young" westerners - young being the oppritive word as there were other westerners in there but they were old and fat and just there for the 100 or so hookers that we were surrounded by - vic thought this was hysterical and had her foto taken with two of them - hehe!!! We decide to make a swift exit but on the way out me and vic thought it would be rather funny to take the piss out of 4 fat westerners standin close to us so we walked up to them i had my finger in my mouth and vic put her arm round me and said "100 bucks for the both of us!" - one guy cottoned on to our joke and didnt look impresssed - well he shouldnt be a dirty a******* then should he!! We headed back again in taxi this time with alex shoutin down the taxi radio that the VC are attackin us - rather rude but we were drunk. So spent nite in Allez Boo - quite conveniently located opposite our hotel - we did try to get into one bar round the corner called Into Saigon but we werent allowed in as we werent hookers!!! What is this world coming too! Next day i decided to walk upto Thai Airways office to change my flight on the map it didnt look too far so vic decided to come with - but it was a lil further than we realized - we did however go past "ho chi minh chicken" and both had to have our photos taken with the human size colonel sanders aka ho chi minh located outside - the people around were lookin at us quite strangely - i wonder why????!!! So i make it to the office and they were being complete gaylords and told me i had to go to STA travel and gave me vague directions - so we head up to a main street and after askin a security guy, some waitresses and other official people we still don't find it then it starts to piss it down - eventually we decide to get a cyclo - now the ones in Saigon are rather alot smaller than the ones in hanoi so i squeeze my oversized arse half on the seat and half up the side while vic sat on the front bit - we almost toppled the thing at some points but it was great fun being amongst all the hectic mid day traffic - the cyclo driver spoke really good english as opposed to the ones in the north that is because in the south most of the cycle drivers are ex doctors or lawyers but because they supported the south vietnamese durin the war they can no longer get jobs no matter how qualified they how - really not fair at all. Headed to the war remnants musuem now that was certaintly an eye opener - i know that the american involvement in the war was pretty horrific but they slate really badly the troops where they should be slating the government. The propoganda is pretty evident too which made it a really interesting musuem - the photos of the Agent Orange victims is again horrific but one of the realities of war. So went out again in the evening to enjoy the free shots in Eden and i didnt drink a hell of a lot but still got back at 2.30! On friday we went to the cu chi tunnels that were used durin the war - they are tiny but yet have still been widened so western tourists can fit. There are 3 exits you can take along the way one at 30m, one after 50 and one after 120 so we decided to do the whole hog even though it meant us sliding down on our arses at one point - classy chicks!! Now friday nite was mine and vic's night of pure wastedness. It wasnt technically our fault as they gave us free shots of vodka chocolate then screwdrivers and cos the other 2 werent drinkin we ended up with double. I had a good nite although at 2 seperate occasions of the night we ended up meetin some real american idiots (sorry christi/catherine etc i know not all you americans are bad!). The first lot were 3 young blokes who thought they were really original and creative and the 2nd lot one was a fat 30 odd yr old who didnt like the fact that i could answer back to him with valid opinions that contradicted him - yes some people do have a brain - even though mine has been a lil smooshed recently with all the drink but that has changed already! Also i met a couple of spanish speakers so practiced away. So we sat with them and an aussie girl and drank the nite away til 4am!! Got a few grey patches there - oh well! Next day kate left early and i wasnt quite with it but managed to say bye so after a much needed lie in we went to the reunification palace and did a very boring tour which we ditched half way thru then checked out the market - i do have to here point out ruth's rather amusing comments of the day - 1st bein her sayin "i dont ever seem to get hangovers, i just get alcohol poisoning!" and u thought i was bad enough mum - only joking ruth!!! So that finally brings me to today! We went on a mekong delta tour which actually was laods of fun - gerald ended up bein on our bus too. We went on a boat to some place that made coconut candies - they were delicious and i bought a load but prob no chance of sendin any home - sorry bout that mum and dad - you would've loved them!!! Also, at the bee farm there was this giant python there that you could put round ur neck and have a photo and i was so near doin it but chickened out at the end - yes im a woss - i dont care!! Had some q crappy lunch then went on a rowing boat thing - it was all good fun. At the end i said bye to vic and ruth as they are off to cambodia and i came back to saigon and im just about to meet stephanie for some dinner as im hungry. So thats pretty much it from vietnam. Ive had a great time here and would recommend it to anyone - its such a great experience and now is the time to see it before it changes too much - to see the transitional stages are q eye-opening and interesting. Good Bye (from) Vietnam!!!!! See You Again In Thailand nikki xxxx