In the end I decided to opt for the more expensive bus, since the thought of waiting for a few hours at the border crossing whilst they mucked about and then having to board a new bus didn't fill me with joy. It was, however, a painful experience parting with $13 as opposed to $3.50, but I got over myself and managed it. I think it was worth the money - the bus was clean!! I didn't get grubby hands! No-one threw up or spat on the floor, I didn't get stared at, the air conditioning worked, the bus left on time and the staff were smartly dressed. There's definitely something to be said for smartly dressed staff on a bus!! The bus was mainly Westerners and a few Vietnemese - I guess it was too expensive for the Cambodians. Was nice to have a bit of luxury and let someone else do all the organising of the visa, border crossing and onward journey - it was the first bus journey where I didn't have to concentrate!

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh at 16:00 and have found a nice place to stay - the rate includes breakfast too!! The girl at reception has been very helpful too. Went to the cash machine first to get out some Dong. There are 30,000 dong to the pound!! Can you believe that!! What a ridiculous currency! That means my daily budget is nearly half a million Dong! When I got the money out I withdrew 2 million!! I've never withdrawn that much of anything before!! I must have checked my maths at least 10 times before I pressed the button - I couldn't believe it! And the stupid thing is, it dispensed it all as 50,000 notes - so I now have this huge handful of notes, which annoyingly you can't fold because they're made of some funny plastic paper stuff.

I then went for a walk around the city. It's such a stark contrast to Cambodia- it's crazy to think there are people in Phnom Penh, a few hundred km away, living in bamboo huts. Vietnam is much more developed in comparison and there are some really lovely buildings in the city. The post office and Notre Dame were particularly spectaular. I think I may also be more impressed than usual because I've become accustomed to mud huts.

KFC too!! Not that I like KFC but it was good to see it!

And minimarts!! You know you're in a civilised place when there are franchised mini marts!! In real buildings!! I've spent the last 3 weeks only buying stuff from wooden market stalls - real shops with air conditioning are great. (I think this excitement will wear off soon though - Cambodia was more interesting and bizarre in terms of the city scenery)

It's nice to be here - it's similar in may ways to Bangkok - very lively, but the traffic is the craziest yet! Crossing the road is a real test of nerves - if you think about it you  panic - you just have to assume you're indestructable and walk right into 6 lanes of densely packed, moving motorcyles and cars. It's really amazing - you just walk at a steady pace (no hesitation or they get confused and run into you) and the vehicles part around you. It's like a sea of motos!! Crazy. When I meet up with Claire I'll try and get her to get a photo of me crossing the road! Car and scooter horns are hooting all the time- it's not like th Uk where you feel startled - I'm quite used to it now. In all of Asia they hoot there horns all the time - just for the hell of it. Was stressful at first, but I've tuned out now.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to some museums and the next day I think I'll go to the Mekong Delta for a few days to see the towns in the South.