After Hoi An and Nha Trang I was quite looking foward on getting back to a city. As I was running a bit short of time I opted to get the early morning bus at 7.30am despite knowing that last night's in places end up with a few beers, it was also Canada day the night before. So needless to say I was in the best travelling state. This wasn't helped when we had an emergency blow out on the motorway that had everyone a little bit on the edge shall we say!

Anyway, Ho Chi Minh (or Saigon as the locals still refer to it). It's similar to Hanoi only a little bit more manic. There was a few things to see so I booked the obligatory trip to the Cu Chi tunnels for the next day. It was a long trip (2hrs) in a tiny mini bus to get there, but our guide Tong (or Slim Jim as he liked to be known) was really good, knew he stuff and was able to crack quite a few gags along the way. He had obtained an English slang book from one of his previous clients so his speeches were peppered with various colourful colloquialisms. His parting words were 'Hey thankyou for visiting my country, enjoy the rest of your trip, and just don't pi$$ anybody off! '

On the way to Cu Chi we visited the Cao Dai temple which is a mish mash of religions including Buddism, Confuscianism and Christianity. It has the 3rd largest following amongst the Vietnamese after Buddhist and catholics. It was a colourful experience to say the least and not like the other temples I've seen before.

The next day I visited the Reunification Palace which is where the Vietcong tank rolled through the gates to take control of the city during the war. I finished off with a wander through Vietnam War museum which didn't pull any punches.

From talking to other people Vietnam is a bit like Marmite you either love it of hate it. I loved it. If I ever comeback I'll get a little more of the open ticket bus track and see some other areas, but it was a good 3 weeks and met some great people along the way. Next stop Thailand to gatecrash a honeymoon couple!!