Ho Chi Minh City

On Wednesday 2 May we set off on our 10 hour bus journey to Ho Chi Minh. We were both more than a little grumpy by the time we got off......bloody karaoke videos! I'll move on.

The bus dropped us off right in the main backpacker area of the city and we promptly decided that we wouldn't be staying there and jumped in a cab to a guest house that Gav had read about called Miss Loi's just a few minutes away.

Miss Loi's guest house was lovely. We had a massive room with huge windows letting in loads of sunlight and a balcony with views over the city rooftops. The Mickey Mouse bed linen was amusing but hey it was clean and that's all that mattered.

Views from our room

The following day, Thursday 3 May we spent the day taking in the sights (on foot of course!). We started the day at The War Remnants Museum, previously called The American War Crimes Museum.

The museum has a number of 'themed' rooms displaying photographs and artefacts from the war. The most disturbing of which were those that contained photographs of the effects of Agent Orange and napalm as well as the full size replicas of the 'tiger cages' used to house political prisoners. It's a strange feeling that you are left with after visiting somewhere like that. We were very sad indeed to view the terrors that humans are capable of inflicting on each other.

Later we managed the Botanical Gardens, Notre Dame Cathedral and the gorgeous post office building....before Gav gave up and refused to walk any further and we ended up in.....KFC of all places. Well it was close by, air-conditioned, we were hungry (and that chicken burger tasted good).

The Post Office

On Friday 4 May we had booked a trip to see the Cao Dai Temples and the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was a little rushed, as organised tours often are, but was really interesting.

Cao Dai is a religion that was started by a Vietnamese civil servant in 1926, incorporating all of what he perceived to be the best bits of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism and Hinduism. There are now between 2 and 3 million followers. The temple was very beautiful but it felt odd that they were happy for bus loads of tourists to be traipsing through during their service. It felt a little like we were invading their privacy (although we obviously didn't feel too bad as we took photos along with everyone else).

They have enlarged a section of the Cu Chi Tunnels to accomodate the western frame and allow vistors to crawl through. It still seemed pretty small to me and I wasn't going to risk it. I am a little claustrophobic anyway but mainly I wasn't going to risk it as I had visions of my fat ass becoming thoroughly wedged in a tunnel and the local fire brigade being called to come and dig me out. In the end I decided that I may as well give it a go as everyone else was but only got half way before giving up. It is very hot down there and each section becomes smaller than the last. Gav said that the final sections was so small that he had to pull himself along on his stomach. I would have had no chance!

The face of fear!

On Saturday 5th we spent the day planning our trip to Cambodia. Cambodia wasn't in our origional itinerary however we had heard so much about it from other travellers that we decided it would be a shame not to go. The only problem was that rather than being in Bangkok for my birthday as originally planned, we were now going to be in Phnom Penh. We therefore decided to bring my birthday celebrations forward to coincide with our last night in Vietnam and so on Sunday 6th May Gav took me to the Caravelle Hotel roof top bar for cocktails. What a lovely evening. The open air bar had views over Ho Chi Minh City and to top it off they made a perfect Mojito, all very romantic (vom).

At last I get to wear heels!

After cocktails I was informed that Arsenal were playing and asked whether I minded going to watch the game in a bar in the backpacker area (aaah I see). The bar we ended up in was grim. An actual rat ran across the bar - I kid you not!

At 8.30am on Monday 7th May we departed by bus for our 6 hour journey to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and with that our time in Vietnam had come to an an end.

We'd had a fantastic month in Vietnam. Yes at times there were challenges and we did get a little fed up with being scammed but overall we had thoroughly enjoyed our time there and would like to think that one day we will be back.

Of course we have to end with a picture of a kid!