Hello all,

Well, after another very long journey on an overnight train, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) almost in time to see sunrise. After a bit of early morning groggy-ness, and a lot of yawning we started walking towards the centre in search of a proper, comfortable bed... after sleeping in a chair all night its amazing how much you appreciate a bed!

After about 3 kilometers, we arrived in the backpacker area and started the hunt for a decent room. After Nina had run up and down about 40 flights of stairs (Ben had been carrying the bags) we finally found a room, and crashed out almost literally as our heads hit the pillows. After a few hours of sleep, a shower and a good meal we had a bit of an explore and decided to hunt down a market selling old war memorabilia (rusty dogs tags, shell casings etc). We walked, and walked, and then walked some more, but after about 3 hours we gave up. When we got back, we looked at the map, and discovered this market was just around the corner from us (a 5 min walk) and we had gone completly the wrong way lol! Still, it was nice to get well aquainted with the city... almost all of it!

The next day. we got up early and set out for a full day of sight-seeing. First stop... market. That in itself was a bit of a crazy experience, we walked down quite a tight little lane between some clothes stalls, and literally every stall owner grabbed and stroked us going 'Sir sir, shirt for you, buy something' or 'Lady lady, we make dress we make dress'. After eventually wriggling free, we had a quick look around the market and bought ourselves some lovely teak chopsticks, very nice indeed, and couldn't imagine eating with out them these days... could be intresting when combined with a sunday roast back home lol.

We then walked along a 'walking tour' seeing lovely French colonial buildings including the Hotel de Ville and statues of random people. Our next stop was the Vietnam War Remnants museum. Outside were loads of tanks and fighter jets and massive bombs! We weren't quite sure what to expect when we got inside and certainly got a bit of a shock. The first exhibit was absolutely gruesome. It had so many photo's that literally made our stomachs churn. It showed what the American soldiers had done to civilians, women and children included. It started by detailing a US raid on a village, where all were killed including children as young as 3 years old. One soldier killed a couple, and then found their 3 grandchildren and killed and de-bowelled a boy aged 6. This American later went on to become a Senator! There were countless accounts by journalists who had witnessed the atrocities... whole families and old men slaughtered. Next, the worst part of it all, were the sections covering the effects of chemical defoilants and napalm bombs. Pictures of deformed children, and entire villages running away from their napalm bombed villages being burned alive. It was all really quite harrowing and sickening. I (Nina) literally couldn't read or look at any more of it and we left after the first exhibit to get some air. I was pretty much crying as were alot of people there. When we got out we were approached by a man who had stepped on a land mine in 1977 (2 years after the war had ended) and lost both his arms and had been left partially blind. He was selling books about the war, and the people in the pictures, so we bought one off of him. All in all two million Vietnamese civilians were killed in the war, and another two million injured... when you consider that the population of Vietnam in the mid '70s hovered around 40-45 million it is pretty shocking. All very depressing, and it only tells one side of the story (i.e the actions carried out by the US forces). Anyway, after sitting a while we finally gathered ourselves and carried on sight seeing!

We went to a beautiful cathedral called 'Notre Dame' and the post office which was a massive old and beautiful building, both again dated back to the french colonial days. We then went to the very posh Sheraton hotel and went up to the 23rd floor where there was the most amazing views of the whole city. Unfortunately we couldn't afford a drink each so we snapped a few pix and left. It was a very interesting day really and we were shattered at the end of it! That night we had some wicked Pho Bo (beef noodle-soup) which is the signature dish of Vietnam!

The next day we walked a few km's to the history museum which was really cool. They had a section on traditional instruments and there was one thing (can't pronounce or spell what it was called!) which was like a one stringed bow with a stick on the end. You plucked it in different places for different notes and when you wiggled the stick at the end it bent the notes. A guy came in and showed us how to play it. He was so good at it, we even took a video it had such a lovely sound! That totally made my day (Nina). They also had loads of really old jewelery and statues mostly of a religious nature dating back as early as the 3rd century! So cool. After that we went to a little temple which was quite pretty,and then headed back and chilled out. We had walked quite alot over the last couple of days and tackling the 6 flights of stairs up to our room was a true mission.

The next day, we booked ourselves some bus tickets and moved on to the central highlands town of Dalat. Really enjoyed our time in Saigon, and although it wasn't the most beautiful city we've been to, it was definately worth the visit and has left us with alot more understanding of the Vietnamese people.

Anyway, time for some dinner... its been raining here all day (Grrr) and we'll be walking through puddles up to our ankles but will be worth it for some kailan with ginger and garlic mmmmm.

Love love love

x x x x x x x x x