Uncle Ho

Well here we are in Ho Chi Minh just one day before the anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

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We spent a few beautiful days beaching it in Nha Trang and in Mui Ne and now we are back to travel and hustle and bustle!

Mui Ne was an interesting little fishing village with a gorgeous powder sand beach and loads of sand dunes and seafood! The beach is public so we had to contend with cows and fishermen but since it is now low season it was very quiet...spooky almost!

The main enterprise there is fish sauce so the smell was interesting to say the least...but we had a beautiful little bungalow where we stepped off our veranda and into the sand, and the water was nice for swimming. It was awesome to watch the fishers in their basket boats and to see how they hauled in their nets each morning and night.

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South Vietnam is quite distinct in geography and in personality from the north...it is about 10-20 years ahead economically. Interesting...as you know, when tanks crashed through the gates of Independence Palace on April 30, 1975 ending 30 years of warfare, the North renamed Saigon after their socialist hero, Ho Chi Minh. The huge irony is that this city is Vietnam's pulsing capitalist dynamo! Ho Chi Minh might be turning in his tomb but these locals driven by only profit are not phased one bit...after all, everyone calls it Saigon anyway!

Today we visited the Cu Chi tunnels...fascinating and incredible. Almost every adult we have met can and will share stories of bravery and fortitude from the decades of strife their country endured in the war years. The suffering, destruction and death that the French and US caused is certainly unfathomable but the VN seem to harbour no ill will. In fact they have a very forgiving attitude, especially if you have a personal connection.

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I don't even know exactly when my dad was here or what äction he actually saw, but it is interesting to see the same postcards, and dolls, lighters and silk pyjamas that I remember from the 60's and 70's...

Tomorrow we head to the Mekong Delta and when we return we hope to finally get a CD burned, so please check back in a few days when we will have uploaded the Vietnam photos.

The countdown is on... We have only about four weeks left on this trail and we miss you all. See everyone in June. Check back for photos and more from Cambodia.

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