Stylish Saigon

Gemma:  We rolled into Saigon at 5am after a very bumpy night's sleep on yet another night bus.  After politely asking for a taxi to take us to a travel cafe we knew of, we were promptly bundled into a car and driven around the block to the back entrance of the same building we had been infront of when we arrived - it turns out we were there all the time!  The driver charged us two dollars for the pleasure and we learnt the valuable lesson of why you should never arrive in a new city half asleep and totally disorientated...

Despite this false start we had a great time during our three days in Saigon.  We combined some serious chilling out time with a good day or so of sight seeing, and met up with lots of friends for a few good nights out.  It's easy to see why Saigon is the unoffical capital of Vietnam as it's got a real order and style to it that is totally  lacking in Hanoi.  We stayed right in the centre and it was cool to experience that 'big-city' feeling for the first time in Southeast Asia.

Our chillling out time involved lots of hanging around in a western-style cafe called Sozo.  The owners put their profits back into providing language courses and employment for local people and while i'd like to tell you that's why we were regular customers, the truth is they made the best tuna melts and homemade cookies ever!

We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the War Remenants Museum and Reunification Palace when we weren't lazing around in coffee shops.  While neither of us were particularly taken with the 1960's art deco palace, we both enjoyed the museum and the insight it gave us into the effects of the American War on the Vietnamese people.  The photojournalism exhibits in particular were incredible although some images were pretty difficult to see.

Our final day in Saigon took us to visit the Co Chi tunnels - an undeground system of interlocking tunnels built just outside Saigon by the North Vietnamese during the war.  It's probably one of the only times i've been so grateful for being small as i managed to duck my head and shoot through the pitch black and very claustrophobic tunnels while Alison and the rest of the group had to move on their knees at a snail's pace behind me!  It was good fun though and fascinating to imagine what it must have been like to plan and execute attacks on Saigon from here.

After a final evening avoiding the torrential downpours by finding good places to eat and drink (well what else could we do?!) we were up bright and early for our three-day trip through the Mekong Delta.  Read our next entry to find out all about it...