VIETNAM - Saigon

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What a mad and fantastic place! Hoi Chi Minh City( Officially HCMC but the locals prefer Saigon ) is a large and sprawling City. The streets are  noisy and the . traffic is like no other place I've seen . I've been a few places where I thought the roads were manic - I take it all back . Nowhere compares to here. Crossing the road is a high adrenalin adventure sport . It's best not to look at the 30 bikes bearing down on you , as you're apt to freeze like a rabbit in the headlights , you just have to pray and go.The knack is to go slowly and let the traffic flow around you .

Working hard at 3 years
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Every street has cyclo drivers eager for your business and street kids hawk cigarettes and tat at every bar and cafe. Competition is intense , it's the first time I've been grabbed by stall holders so keen are they for you to buy. I feel sorry for the young girls carrying  large and heavy stacks of books around the streets and even more so for the 3 or 4 yr olds taken by Mum around the bars till the wee hours to sell chewing gum.

The  huge Ben Thanh market has all the clothing you could ever wish to buy at a fraction of the cost of U.K prices.Good quality T-shirts can be picked up for a quid and there are designer labels aplenty. Half the fun is in the bartering and  I'm no longer a soft touch.You know if you've gone too low if they really refuse a sale at your 'final' price. If you walk away and aren't yanked back you know to offer a little more next time for that essential 'must have'.

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On my first full day I took an organized trip to a couple of places ( it's easier and just as cheap to do it this way). First up was Cao Dai Great Temple for the daily prayer session .Cao Daism is a melting pot of religions with elements of Buddhissm , Christianity , Islam , Taoism etc in an effort to make the perfect religion. The temple here is actually quite gaudy , especially the crudely painted interior with its giddy mixture of colours . The high priests in their colourful robes though are ideal for all the tourists like me taking  photos!

Shane tries his hand at selling
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Next up were the Cu Chi Tunnels.These are part of an elaborate  tunnel network built over 25 years. They were first dug during the war against the French and later extended when U.S troops launched operations. They included ingenious booby traps , ventilation shafts and were so skilfully hidden they were undetected even within a U.S military base.

The tunnels are extremely narrow and it would only have been possible to travel by crawling on your stomach. An enlarged section is open for visitors . I didn't realize I was claustrophobic until I was deep underground in the pitch dark! How they managed to live like that is beyond me.

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Bomb craters can still be seen though the once barren landscape has been repopulated with trees A M-41 tank remains where it was knocked out.

A bonus of an organised tour like this is meeting fellow travelers. I had a top night out with a few of them in a local bar and was kept entertained by the antics of the locals.

The next day I took a cyclo to the War Remnants Museum .It was as horrific as I expected . The atrocities committed beggar belief and it made for a sombre afternoon. I know these ' attractions' are hardly a laugh a minute but I'm not here just to do the fun and frothy things.

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Another organized tour was to the Mekong Delta in the far South.It was an enjoyable day trip , just not what I was expecting. Instead of nice scenery and floating markets we went on boat trips to nowhere and more souvenir shops than you can shake a stick at.One of the more interesting places was where they make coconut candy , a soft toffeelike sweet. It'as a real cottage industry with the whole process from start to finish happening under one roof. The coconut flesh is removed and  compressed under a  large  weight . The resulting liquid with other ingredients is cooked , cooled , cut and wrapped. it's all done manually and the end result is lovely. They recycle too as the coconut husks fuel the fire used for the cooking!

Sunken trap
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The beard was getting on my nerves so a trip to the barber and his cut-throat was in order. The real surprise was when after my haircut he rolled a vibrating plate over my head. It felt as tho my skull was being attacked by a pneumatic drill . I'm not sure what this what meant to do , but it left me feeling dazed and confused!

I could happily spend a few more days here but there  is a lot of ground to cover before my visa expires , so onwards I go.