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  Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon), Vietnam
Wednesday, February 8, 2006

So, forth time lucky, and we're finally leaving phnom penn, or are we. the lady at our travel agency directs us to the bus we need to take, as we're getting on, the guy says no, you need to go to that bus, this is for siam reap. other people on the other bus are going to saigon, brilliant. then, just before we leave, the guy checks out tickets, and says that they are for a different company, damm it. run back to our travel agent, get a couple of motos at top speed to our bus, which is patiently waiting for us. phew, danger avoided.

no problems crossing the boarder, minorly stung by some guys who take your passport off you, fill out your form, and then charge you a dollar,WHAT? welcome to vietnam baby. a poor guy from our bus, had a mistake on his multiple entry visa, and had to go back, i'm not sure what happened to him, as our old bus had probably already gone

01. We're not in Cambodia anymore

. when they told him he couldn't go through, he tried to make a run for it, i think he's lucky he didn't get shot.

our guide to saigon, likes to talk, and joke over the mic, and gives us some history,as well of course as selling his companies tours in saigon, communism is dead. population of over 80million in 'nam' (as i like to refer to it ('you wern't there man')), which puts in the top 10 populations in the world, and is growing rapidly. saigon (Ho Chi Mihn City) is the most populated city with over 8 millon, and is the ped capital of the world with over 2 millon crazies loose on the city. our guide assures us that a man needs a bike to work, and to get girls, good bike = good looking girl, bad bike = ugly girl, and no bike = lonely. most women riders (not sure what they get out of a bike), will cover there face, wear hat and gloves even in the hot conditions "to keep there hands soft" and "there faces pretty and white", i am only quoting here, and then for the feminists in the audience "men work but are bad with money, women are pretty, do the washing, look after babies, cook and are good with money". feeling very much enlightened, he then showed us he's war wounds, from helicopter shots, when he was fighting for the viet kong. anyway vietnam, now encourages personal business since the 80's and it's economy is growing.

02. The Caodai Temple

damm currency conversion. even though you can still use american dollars, vietnamese money is in huge numbers, and it can be quite hard hearing your bill is 75,000. (1,500,000 is 100 dollars or 65 quid). our first night in saigon was mainly uneventful, and was pleasently surprised when we woke in the morning, in our dingy room to find we have hot water, the first time since china. it's the little things. or so they say.

so, another day, another bus, we took a trip to the Caodai Great Temple in Tay Ninh. our guide fought with the americans, as he was born in saigon, and was an officer, and later fought with the south vietnamese. after the 'american war', as it is referred to here, he was sent to a re-education camp for 3 years, until he was sent out to the countryside to work as a farmer. he sneaked back to saigon, and says he is happy to talk english, and to have a weekly hamburger, and occational gravy and mash potatoe, that he got a taste for when he was fighting with the americans. the guy was a lot of fun, and never stopped smiling or joking, which really helps the day and especially the bus journey fly past.

The temple is a colourful place, almost like it is from a theme park, as a religion specific to south vietnam, called Caodaism, which has only been going for less than a hundred years

03. Very colourful pillars

. it's a mish-mash of a lot of differnt religions, including buddist, catholic, hindu and muslim. we wandered around, and watched part of a serman, see pics.

next we visited Cu Chi tunnels, which is an area that, although only 30km from saigon, was controlled by the viet kong, and used a tunnel network of over 200km. the place was eventually carpet bombed by the americans. the tunnels could be as small as 18cm by 18cm, which with the heat must have been unbearable, these soldiers were never paid, and only got a little supply of food, our guide said they would have been very poor, and they had nothing to loose, apart from of course there life. during the visit we were able to go down a tunnel, which had been widened for us lard arse westerners, as well as see some of the traps (nasty), the food they used to eat (not bad, but might get boring after 3 meals), and even shoot some live rounds if we wanted to, ( we didn't do it though).

today, we did a walking tour of saigon, which can be tough in the heat, and especially crossing the motorbike infested roads. disapointment day, when we saw a kfc, after fast food free cambodia ("i hate the cournel, with his beady little eyes, and these speical ingredients in the chicken, which just makes you want more and more" not sure if that is a word for word quote) we visted the War Remenets Museum, used to be called the American War crimes museum', but apparently that upset some poeple. the pictures in this place were excellent, and had a big impact, but we were short of time, and had to move on. we also visited a couple of other museums around the city, and it was useful to hear what the vietnamese say about the historical events, which i've mostly heard about through american films

04. Noon Mass

. the information feels a bit biased (in both of course), with some very anti-american info, but very intresting all the same. we also payed a vist to the zoo and botanical gardens, which was beautiful, but zoo's always seem to end up getting kate angry, and i'm not entirely sure why she insisted we go in the firt place.

mainly a day of taking in the city, which we both really like the vibe about the place, again, lots of stuff that we had heard from others seems not true at all. danny's travel tip, always go and see a place for yourself, everybodys see's things through different eyes.

anyway, maybe too many facts, and not enough jokes, but we're just soaking it up, hope i haven't played with any facts in my ickle brain. hope your all well, and i hope it's really busy at homebase. any questions? good.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures & Videos

041. Noon Mass Video	05. Our great guide called Hi	06. Now you see him.....	07. Now you don't
08. One of the Viet-Cong traps	09. American tank which ran over a land mine	10. Three snake filled bottles hanging on the wall	12. There is definitely fear behind this smile
13. Trapped man in headlights	14. We're going deeper....	15. Spiral vine	16. Guillotine at War Museum
17. Woman cycling	18. No Seals on bikes please!	19. Crazy!	20. Damm him!
20.5. Traffic video	21. Bizare	23. Crocodiles in really bad cages	24. Not so magestic now
25. Elephant loving this

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