Hoang Gia Huy Hotel Ho Chi Minh City

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... rail journey... and experience it we did.

In travelling the Reunification Express, we were offered two basic choices. One was the '***********', which entailed travelling on hard wooden seats for the whole journey of two and a half days,or the 'soft option', which was more or less first class option of sharing a compartment consisting of four bunks, two on either side, an upper and lower bunk, neither ...

... start to the day.

It was decided that we would go for a walk to get the oxygen pumping and have a look in Ben Thanh Market. Kythera did some bargaining and came out with some nice earrings and I picked up a Vietnam soccer shirt for Jojo.

We then headed back towards our district and walked slowly through Saigon Park. The kids decided that they were very tired and we stopped to take in the scenery and people. A nice old lady offered Kythera a pedicure which ...

... open and use the explosives inside, pretty risky stuff if you ask me!

All in all the tunnels were a fantastic experience and gave us a great insight into how life was during the war, also taught us a lot about the VC way of life during that time.

The next day we had a trip booked on the Mekong Delta, which we're going to write about in another entry because this one is too long already ha ha!

Lots of Love Carolyn and Thomas xxxx

... the fact that people rarely want to physically harm you. They just want money or things that can be sold. I’ll take my chances trusting people in small towns, like the ones that I’ve been in, save for Hanoi. I suppose I’ve let my guard down after being around such genuine and trustworthy people for the last 3 months. Looking at the bright side, other than the lesson, I got a really good, free lunch out of the deal and a short tour of the North side of Saigon.

... they don't really care to give you headphones - leaving everyone a little deaf.
Leaving the range we then go down into the main 120m tunnel - this one has been widened (for the 'Western tourist') and the floor concreted and it's lit. It's easier going than the other tunnel but much longer than the one earlier and some people make use of the exits that are placed every 20m. Coming out the other end we watch another Government produced film ...

... S*uth African gay c*usin *f Sprite. Th*ught y*u sh*uld kn*w.
Right, s* I g*t t* the airp*rt with a twinkle in my eye, a spring in my step and a p**l *f sweat in pretty much ev**ywh**e. It was Darwin. I was th**e early, and I waited patiently in the queue t* check in. One thing I always f*rget ab*ut airp*rts is that they and their staff hate me. Fr*m being abused ab*ut wearing a d* rag in NY, accused *f being Michael Vick in Canada (l***ng st*ry, g**gle the name ...

... of bikes here are out of control! We happened to be searching for the Jade Pagoda during rush hour - huge mistake! The roads were swarming with motorists, a mass of helmets, clouds of exhaust and high pitched horns. Once, we were saved by a shining prince who smiled and looked to us and said, "You can follow me." Thank God! We walked a pace behind him, stopping when he stopped, motorbikes passing inches from our toes and heels, at times we needed to ...

... interaction, eh?!) [Rich: Boring too. Public transport is where it's at. It's always more entertaining] as we had read everywhere that the public transport links to the places we wanted to visit were rubbish. After waiting for the rain to clear (Saturday afternoon had treated us to a torrential downpour - a brief barrage of rain that we would get used to as the rainy season in Vietnam gathered momentum), we sorted out our trip.

That evening, we had our first experience ...