12 hrs, 2 countries, 2 capitals, 2 ridiculous border crossings and a horrible KFC we are finally in Vietnam and Saigon!! I already get the feeling that I'm gogin to enjoy it here, don't know why, I just do.

Finding a room wasn't as easy as we'd thought due to being TET (Chinese New Year), all the prices are inflated and rooms booked up well in advance. We had to spend more then intended but we were right in the centre of things.

Our first morning we decided to do as the Vietnamese do and had Pho for breakfast, a beef noodle soup with bean sprouts and green leaves of some sort. Really delicious and just over a pound, since then we've had this numerous times as the start to our day.

The first day was spent wandering around the lanes and crossing the roads, a death defying act which once you've committed to doing there's no going back, keep walking at a steady pace and don't falter, the motorbikes will go around you!

We met a great couple, Julian and Emily, who were on their honeymoon and also traveling around. We all had a few (too many) drinks, swapping traveling stories and near death experiences encountered on the way. We always manage to have a heavy night when we've got something to do the next day….. Cu Chi tunnels!!!

Up at 7.30am to head to Cu Chi where we'll be scrambling through tiny tunnels and learning more about the life of the Vietcong. Normally at home with a hangover and knackered I won't leave my bed until at least 2pm but here we all are walking around the forest in Vietnam after 1.5hrs coach ride, looking at rather nasty traps and psyching ourselves up for the tunnel run.

The tunnels were great but absolutely no fun if you're even remotely scared of confined spaces of the dark for that matter, once down there you can't turn around you have to continue forward and at times it's pitch black ( as it would've been during the war). For once I was happy to be a short arse as I could crouch down with my head bowed and walk along that way, some were almost on hands and knees while one chap must've practically been scrambling on his belly due to his height.

The tunnels have now been made bigger to allow western bodies through, and even the Vietnamese who are still pretty small framed are just too large to fit compared to back in the war.

I think we went for 300m, going down 2 levels, the heat was amazing and to imaging that they lived in the tunnels during the day and not to mention had a weapons workshop, tailors for the uniforms and a place to treat injuries is truly astounding. The trap they built were nasty and not meant to kill but gruesomely main and snare.

Back in Saigon we wanted to see more ofwhat happened in the war and went to the war remnants museum. There was lots of fighter planes, bombs and war paraphernalia on show, the seismic bomb was quite shocking to look at considering the mass destruction it caused. There was no censorship either when it came to the section on Agent Orange, pictures of extremely deformed children were staring back at us and even deformed fetuses where kept in a tank to see.

We all had a really good time in Saigon and hope that it stays this way. Off to Mui Ne next for some beach time.