Long Guesthouse Ho Chi Minh City

... built 3 different depths of tunnels; 3m,8m and 10m deep. Not only were the tunnels specifically designed for the Vietnamese people but they also had beds, a kitchen and chimney and a bomb shelter, as well as several other rooms, forming an underground society, allowing them to stay safe from American bombings and soldiers. Next we went to see the hiding spots in the forest, a tiny hole in the ground ...

... in their swaying ao dai, but he's in adoration of the pilot's flying capabilities. That was a fun 30-minute plane ride and now, Pierre wants to fly everywhere... sigh... <br><br>Next thing we know, we're in a cab in heavy Saigon traffic. After having been taken for a ride in Hanoi, I now play the guilt trip on every cab driver we use the minute we get into the car. Not knowing the words for "honesty" and "integrity" in VNese, the discourse goes ...

... were but spending much longer doing it. There was a guy called Jamie who was an ex-politics student from London, smart guy who worked for a little while for an MP. Chloe, who was also cool but spoke really quietly so I found myself smiling and nodding along without really hearing what she had been saying, bad I know but I couldn't seem to stop myself doing it! Sorry Chloe! And finally there was a northern girl called Amanda who was unfortunately very ill ...

... our way and thrusting shirts and pants at us, shouting that we must buy, pulling on our arms when we went to move past. Crazy. At one point I paused to buy some deodorant (note to self: always pack more than you think you'll need), and when the seller handed back the change, she tried to pass a phony play money $10,000 note which sharp-eyed Bill immediately noticed and challenged her on.<br><br>Both hungry, we located a restaurant called Quan An Ngon. Apparently ...

... Bogoroditsy (xây d&#7921;ng n&#259;m 1708) &#7903; t&#7881;nh Vologda. (&#7842;nh: du l&#7883;ch và &#273;&#7863;t phòng khách s&#7841;n cùng chudu24 web &#273;&#7863;t khách s&#7841;n online: http://www.chudu24.com/khach-san.html) Nhà th&#7901; này &#273;&#432 ...

... delay we didn't arrive until close to 9:00pm, and by the time we got to the hotel and met Lou it was nearly 10:00pm. Fortunately, Saigon is very different from Hanoi, and getting a meal after 10:00pm is no problem -- it seems to be a city that never sleeps, which is a huge change from Hanoi, where everything closes around 11:00pm. <br><br>Lou met us at the hotel and the three of us taxied it to Pham Ngu Lao, Saigon's backpacker district. We had some decent ...

... been to see her friend in Hong Kong met us at the hotel which we were all very excited about as we'd not seen her since home back in February! Then we got a taxi across town to check into our hostel which turned out to be a lovely arty kitch place where we were up-graded to an en suit room with air con and a massive plasma screen TV! The owner 'Hanh' is lovely but slightly cuckoo... she helped Liz and I blow up ...

... The Vietnamese are great. They start drinking at lunch &#8211; copious and I am a Southern African, so when I say copious I think I am an expert &#8211; copious amounts of alcohol people. And it starts off with somewhat sedate tinkering of glasses to say cheers and descends into raucous standing ovations to each other &#8211; it&#8217;s wonderful &#8211; this is my world. After lunch every conversation becomes very interesting of ...

... had to get out after 20 metres.<br><br>For the rest of our short stay in HCMC, we ventured to the posh part of town to check out the Rex rooftop bar, frequented by journalists during the War. After taking in the view we had a look at the drinks prices and then made a swift, if embarrassed exit, and headed on motorbikes back to the cheap end of town for our last roadside bia hoi in Vietnam. Cheers...or as the Vietnamese would say, YO!

... Saigon is a great city. It has a great backpacker area along Pham Ngu Lao and the food is fantastic. Best food might have been at the Ben Thanh Market, although to get to the food court you have to navigate past some of the kiosks where, the women physically grab your arm to get your attention in their attempts to sell you something. Hanging out with Tiger was awesome, he's been travelling for over a year ...