Ho Chi Minh

This section of the trip started fairly inauspiciously with Fi being violently ill. Not sure why, as we'd both eaten the same things in the previous few days but luckily she recovered quickly. To be fair  we've got off very lightly as this was the first time either of us had been remotely ill in nearly two months. Probably because we'd avoided dishes like 'fried crap' (offered on one restaurant menu in Chiang Mai- the Thai's don't seem to be too bothered about how their translations are spelt!).

We flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then on to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam - country number six of the trip and easily the most 'exotic' so far.

War and (lack of) peace

We  hadn't booked any accommodation before arriving (in most places we've found it wasn't too hard to find somewhere decent) but this time we had a little more trouble. Every shop and restaurant in Ho Chi Minh seems to advertise rooms to rent and we ended up in a very basic but clean room (with bathroom) above a pharmacy in the main backpacker area.  At US$7 a night Fiona reckons it's as cheap/basic as she's happy to go but Dave is demanding we spend a few quid more in future, particularly due to the lack of sheets (we're carrying 'sleep sheets' so no real problams there)  and the fact that someone opened our door in the middle of the night (with a key, nothing like checking the locks are all different!). Despite this we ended up spending the three nights we were in the city in the same place and came to no harm.

Ho Chi Minh is very different to anywhere we've travelled so far - the two words that spring to mind first are 'smiley' and 'chaotic'. Every building seems to be wired up seprately so everywhere you look there are hundreds of electric wires. Also there are literally thousands of motorbikes, on pavements as well as roads, and the way of both bikes and larger vehicles moving forward seems to be simply sounding their horn loudly until any slower moving vehicles in front move out of the way.

You can't walk 5 yards without someone trying to sell you sunglasses, fake zippo lighters, dried squid or cigarettes and we quickly lost track of the number of people who approached us with 'Hello, where you from?' and trying to coax us into their restaurant, bar, massage parlour (?!), travel agency etc or taxi us on their motorbike.  Even sat quitely in cafes girls approach you with piles of books as tall as they are balanced on their hips- mostly pirated Lonely Planets and the like.

Before this all sounds like hell - it's not. It's all very well mannered and smiley, they never actually touch you or pull at your clothing (anyone been to Mexico?!)  and if you say no firmly they generally just walk away.  The traffic does lead to some interesting situations though. Crossing the road is simply a matter of stepping out, no matter what's approaching, and carrying on at a constant pace across the road in the hope that drivers/riders will judge your speed and swerve around you! And for some bizarre reason, most vehicles play tunes when they're reversing- so far we've heard Jingle Bells, Auld Lang Syne, We Wish You a Merry Christmas,  Happy Birthday....  You're not safe on the pavement either.  When traffic comes to a stop it's very common for motorbikes to take to the pavement and cut out the delay!

We spent our first full day in Ho Chi Minh just walking around the city taking in the sights and atmosphere, including the cathedral and museum, drinks in the Sheraton and a visit to a shop where Dave persuaded Fi to buy three dresses (a pretty unusual occurence she took full advantage of, though at $21 each they didn't exactly break the bank)..

The second day we visited the Cu Chi tunnels, built by the VietCong during the 'Vietnam' war.  The site includes a chance to go through about 50m of one of the tunnels and it was quite an expereience - not exactly claustrophobic but you had to bend double and neither of us could imagine being in the tunnels for even an hour never mind living in them, and in larger underground chambers,  for months on end. On the way back into the city we also visited the, very interesting, War Remnants Museum.

Hearing about the war from the Vietnamese perspective, and about some of the massacres committed by the Americans, has really opened our eyes.Having not been alive then it's difficult for us to understand what the rest of the world was doing letting it happen and why on earth the Vietnamese seem so keen to adopt western culture and lifestyle now. Also, it was noticeable how the war is still having an effect on the country - a large proportion of the beggars in HCM had the withered limbs of victims of Agent Orange, including many much younger than us.

That evening we visited Pho2000, a fast food stykle place selling the Vietnames meat/noodle soup staple food. Apparently Bill Clinton visited the branch on his visit to the city but the cheesy photos of the visit on the walls of the restaurant didn't really do much for us considering what we'd seen earlier in the day.