The entire Vietnamese population is in Saigon for Christmas! Went out for Christmas-eve dinner with some fellow travellers last night. We planned to meet at a popular city bar at 8:00pm for a few drinks prior. The 20 minute walk to the bar took nearly 90 minutes! The 10 minute walk to the restaurant took the best part of 40 minutes. Needless to say that getting a table was nigh-on impossible. Ended up grabbing a banana sundae and chocolate milkshake at an icec...

Today I ventured into the backpacker area of Pham Ngu Lao for a hair cut, a bite to eat and a bit of hustle and bustle at the markets. I've added 2 new photo albums - one in colour and another in B&W to help share my adventure. Pham Ngu Lao is like a city amongst cities; overflowing with bars, restaurants, guest houses, tour offices and... backpackers. You can pick up a comfy bed from as little as 7 bucks. $18 gets you a private room with air conditioning...

Hold on to your seatbelts. These are the first 5 words in the latest version of Lonely Planet. And they're right on the money. The plane touched down @ Tan Son Nhat airport a little after 4:00pm. Jerry found me a cheap deal aboard a Turkish Airways flight that was on its way home. Less than 30 travellers boarded the plane which meant that we had a couple of rows each. And an abundance of flight crew too. We cleared Immigration rather briskly and made our way...