Ho Chi Minh City

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We picked a great day to travel from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City because the bus only had about a dozen people on it and we could really spread out!  Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as most of the locals still refer to it) is just like a super-sized Soho.  In fact, our first impression of Vietnam is that it is really quite Western.  Also, the Vietnamese people are much more reserved than their Cambodian neighbours although they are still just as friendly.

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We decided to do an all-day mammoth walk around Ho Chi Minh City, which took us past the Fine Arts Museum, the Municipal Theatre, the Reunification Palace and various very grand looking hotels.  We visited the Museum of HCMC which is quite interesting (especially the fighter jets and tanks etc outside the building).  Unfortunately, though, most of the museum's explanatory signs were in Vietnamese!  There was also a stall that sold old cigarette lighters which used to belong to American soldiers.  Our Lonely Planet tells us that not all of them are authentic but they certainly look the part and the inscriptions vary from the philosophical to the macabre!

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90% of the traffic in HCMC is mopeds.  Crossing the road can be a little daunting as there are rarely breaks in the stream of traffic and drivers tend to use that invisible middle lane when they turn right or left.  As Deano warned me, you should never run across the road and the trick is stroll across at a steady pace so that the traffic can manoeuvre around you.

On our way back to our guesthouse, we came across an enormous group of women getting their daily exercise in the park.  It seemed to be a stretching/aerobics class and, given the size of the group, was quite a sight!

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Refreshingly, the street sellers here actually do take "no" for an answer when you say that you don't want to buy anything!  :o)  However, as well as books, jewellery and trinkets, we were offered all sorts of drugs.  Alarmingly, they don't bat an eyelid when they offer you class A drugs such as cocaine and heroin!