We came to HCMC (the official, new-ish name, but everyone still calls it Saigon) without high expectations. Everyone tends to say that it's a nasty and noisy place, not as nice as the cities of northern Vietnam, and besides, for us it was really a stop-off between one beautiful island and another. But we liked it! It was helped by the fact that Tet (Chinese New Year) was approaching so the city was lit up with spectacular lights and the locals were gearing up for a week-long party, but any time of year it would be a fascinating place, albeit not the most relaxing city in the world.

We stayed in Blue River hotel, a small place up an alley off one of the main tourist streets, and we loved it. It was $25 a night which is pretty steep around here but the room was lovely, there was breakfast
included, free wifi and computers and the best service in Asia from the LOVELY host, Thuoy. She was fab, welcoming, helpful and ready to step in to sort out any problems. Stay here.

Much of our time here was taken up by seeing how the Vietnamese (or rather the communist Vietnamese state) deals with the memory of what they know as 'the American war'. We went to the War Remnants Museum, a building surrounded by American aircraft and tanks and filled with the many horrors of the war. The visit must be viewed with a liberal dose of salt as the whole thing, though, is an exercise in
propaganda- you always have to remember that this museum was designed by the victors. Nonetheless, propaganda or no propaganda, some truly terrible things happened in that war (and the American-financed fighting with the French that preceded it) and one side of that at least is shown here in graphic detail, some of which left us in stunned silence and counting our lucky stars that we haven't had to go through such events.

Our second war-based trip was to the Chu Chi tunnels, a network of tunnels in which Vietcong guerillas (or technically Vietcong sympathisers as the VC were really further north) lived, hid from the American and South Vietnam fighters, emerging to carry out surprise attacks and lay traps for the enemy. The most striking thing about the tunnels is simply their size- they're tiny. It's almost unbelievable that anyone could live down there, particularly without light. A section of the tunnels has been expanded to almost double its original size to make it tourist- sized and still it is tiny, claustrophobic and generally not a nice place to be. Very glad we did it though (and we both stuck in 'til the end rather than taking one of the 'panic exits' along the way!) Unfortunately, the trip is somewhat marred by the tone adopted by the guide- the speed at which he went and how he demonstrated the traps laid by the VC with an attitude of "haha- isn't it FUNNY that the guerillas maimed and killed so many of their enemies! Isn't it great that they got given hero medals for killing so many Americans!" No, it's not funny; the Americans did some awful things in this part of the world but maybe let's be a bit more grown-up in how we remember it. But maybe that's the way that those on-high wish them to tell it. Still, definitely worth a visit for the tunnels themselves.

As part of the same day trip to Chu Chi, we also visited a Cau Dai temple. This religion is pretty fascinating, incorporating as it does elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and, of course, the work of French philosopher Victor Hugo. Got that? Our trip took us to their 12noon service, one of their four services each day (others being 6pm, midnight and 6am) wherein most of the attendees all wear white robes, line up and chant in a dialect that other Vietnamese people don't understand. It was interesting, their temple was fascinating in its design and the day trip is only a couple of dollars more than one that only goes to Chu Chi... but it really feels like you're invading their sacred time and
space which they don't appreciate, and it involves a blinkin' long bus journey. Maybe don't bother with this one.

Ah, but the Saigon food! The French colonial heritage lives on in the best way possible, and we took advantage of it at two fab French restaurants- Le Jardin and Augustin. Both are simply brilliant- the latter a bit more pricey but so totally worth it. Go go go.

And it was when we went to Augustin that we saw a great Saigon phenomenon- the young courting couples go out on a Saturday night, not with any destination in mind, just to cruise on a moped. Hundreds of them roam the streets, occasionally stopping at a fancy bakery to grab some
cakes before cruising off again.

They, of course, just add to the single most memorable thing about Saigon: the traffic. Phonm Pehn had busy streets with considerate drivers in comparison. The Mekong Delta had drivers who were, above all, noisy. But Saigon is just beyond comprehension. Every bit of road is full, wherever you go in the city. There are no apparent road rules, and the mass of traffic moves like a swarm of bees. The only way to cross the road is to start slowly walking into the flow and let it move around you. At one point, we were waiting to cross the road and an elderly Vietnamese woman offered to help us to cross the road- hang on, is there something a bit wrong there? And remember, as you wait to cross on the pavement, you are by no means safe- at any moment a motorbike rider could race on to the pavement and drive
at you- this is a nation that simply cannot bear to queue- if a delay builds in the road, people just hop up the kerb. Madness. You could live here for many many years and it could never stop being stressful.

But somehow, somehow we liked the city. It's vibrant, exciting, and the people are really quite friendly. The Tet lights were just stunning and on our final night we took a walk through town, wandering
through a gorgeous flower market, where people we buying amazing displays to decorate their home for the celebrations, and generally taking in the vibe of a fun, exciting city.

And in case any of that was too stressful, we spent our final day in a gorgeous spa! L'Apothiquaire spa is in a lovely old colonial house, complete with vintage French car (Peugeot) to collect us from our hotel before we were pampered all day long, only taking breaks to do some serious lying by the pool. A lovely, lovely way to spend a final day in Vietnam before going straight to the airport for a late flight.

Money note: they use their own currency (called, wait for it, the Dong) for just about everything but charge hotel rooms in dollars. So therefore, when you check out of a hotel, you get a bill with the room
rate in dollars an anything else you have to pay for in dong. Weird. Obviously, they'll convert either way if you want, but equally obviously, you'll get stung with a rubbish exchange rate. There are loads of ATMs (each in their own stand-alone air-conditioned kiosk rather than in a wall) but you can only take about £75 each transaction so if your credit card is charged a flat fee, it costs greatly every time you get your dong out- probably best to bring a load of dollars. We were also refused by a main bank to have our American Express travelers' cheques cashed. First of all Suzie's was declined we think because it had been folded. The teller then held them under UV, then wanted samples of both our signatures (on top of the evidence in our passport) and finally she wanted the receipt with all our cheque numbers on it – we declined to do this as you are not meant to keep receipt and cheques together at all for safety. So we left thoroughly confused and frustrated and popped into the next bank on our travels where we had success.