Ho Chi Minh City

We arrived at 1:30pm and walked to our hotel (Hoang Chung). The staff speak little English and we are on the 7th floor with a superior room (so we get a window but not much of a view, and an air-con). It is super hot and humid here so we had a shower when we got in. We then went out for some food down one of the lanes near all the cheap hostels. I had vegetarian tacos which were surprisingly tasty but not so cheap. We've found the cheapest water we've seen at 6,000 for 1.5L. We booked a tour to Cu Chi Tunnels for tomorrow and then the 3 day Mekong tour for the day after. We then went wandering to find the Ben Thanh Markets. The roads are very busy but it's a lot more organised and sane than Hanoi (but still crazy). Found the markets and there are so many crammed into such little spaces! We walked through a little of it then wandered up to where the water puppets were to try catch a show. When we got there after a bit of a walk it was 5:00pm which was when one of the shows started. We tried to book for the next one or one after that so we could get front seats (we assumed since there was one just starting then we'd have terrible seats) but they were both booked out so we tried for tomorrow and the later one was booked out so we got 6 rows back at 6:30pm tomorrow night. We then went back to the markets and I bought 2 shirts (iPho and a Vietnam one) for 150,000 however it was impossible to haggle anyone down which I was disappointed with. I got one woman down to 80,000 instead of 130,000 but it was still too dear. We then decided to call it quits as Bundy was getting annoyed and stressed out at all the people harrassing you and all the noise. We strolled back to our hotel through the park and went to bed.

We woke up nice and early at 6:00am and went down for breakfast at 7:00am for a baguette and eggs. We then walked to the tour booking office side of town and when we were on that street we frantically looked around for someone who did laundry (we had little time before our bus was arriving and in desperate need of washing done). We found a lovely lady down a side street and she charged 20,000 per kg (compared to our hotel who charged 6,000 per underwear and 35,000 for trousers). We got to our booking agent (TNK tours) and we gave the lady there the information from our Sakura hotel as they wanted it to recommend to their clients. We waited around awhile and then our guide (Dong) came and picked us up and then we walked around a bit "picking" other people up and then arrived at where our bus would come to. We got on the bus (and for once you could pick your own seats) and we got on. Was a very nice bus with great air-con (which we needed on such a stinking hot day) and we got free water and Dong gave us information about Ho Chi Minh and our trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels (half day $10). He was telling us about what all the districts of Ho Chi Minh City were best for (1: tourists and business; 3: good for living as well as for the mafia; 5: eating with Chinatown; 7: Christians with churches). He was telling us how there are 10 million people in the city and how if you don't have a motorbike you have nothing including no girlfriend/boyriend and if you have 3 motorbikes then you have 3 girlfriends and that Vespas are very expensive at 3,000 US compared to scooters and motorbikes at $300-400 US. He was a really great tour guide, what I liked most was that when we didn't quite understand a word he said he would spell it out for us (but he spoke English well). Our bus trip was 2 hours (and we finally had a sane driver) and we stopped halfway at a handicapped handicraft shack. They made the most amazing things like huge lacquer paintings and polished ceramic bowls but what is awesome about them is that the pictures on them (a tiger or a vietnamese woman in traditional dress etc.) are hand-painted or they are made with sawed bits of mother-of-pearl or, the best one, is cracked egg shells dyed different colours. It was simply amazing. We got to the tunnels at 10:30am and paid our entrance fees and went in. We looked at the weapons room at the entrance with a number of different guns on display. We then went into a bunker like hut and watched a movie on Cu Chi (we also saw the fruit that cashews come from on one of the nearby trees). The movie was pretty average but our guides explanation of the map of Cu Chi with the location of the tunnels, US bases, and the fighting areas as well as the image of the network of tunnels was great. He also showed us the little wooden axe-like thing and wicker basket that were used to actually make the tunnels - it took a long time! He also explained how the US spent over 600 billion on the war and about the "Tunnel Rats". Next we walked down the track in the forest to see the secret entries to the tunnels (now widened for tourists). You cannot see where it is when it is camouflaged at all. He then found the handle and lifted it up. He explained that during the war the lids to the holes were armed with bombs which the Viet-cong would disarm before opening the lid all the way but American soldiers would just lift it off and the bomb would go off - very clever. I was the first to get into the hole and then close the lid on top of me. They were a lot shallower than I imagined and you had to crouch down to fit all the way in and it was a pretty small hole. I tried to lift it up again but couldn't and I realised Dong was standing on top of me. I'd have really liked to have tried to fit down one that hadn't been widened. Everyone then had a go of getting in. We then saw some more of the tunnel entrances and they were tiny! We were showed all the diferent booby traps they had had set up. They were pretty brutal. One was camouflaged and as soon as you stood on it a board would swing down and you would fall onto extremely spiked bamboo sticks. They also had door traps with spikes and spiked balls that would fall down from the trees if you kicked a particular rock. We were also shown the shoes they wore which were made of tire and one shoe would face frontward while your other shoe backward so that American soldiers wouldn't be able to tell which way they had gone or had been - also very clever! After all that we went to the shooting range and the rice making area. Bundy bought bullets for the AK47 (at 35,000 each) and I got ones for the M30 (at 20,000 each). It was pretty expensive but definitely something you have to do. I really wanted to try the AK47 but was a bit worried my arm wouldn't be strong enough and Dong had said that one was mainly for men. When we walked down into the gallery it was extremely loud and the ear-muffs were right at the guns so yeah, very loud with everyone firing different guns). I got my ear muffs on and a guy loaded the M30 for me and off I went. It was an amazing experience to fire it, it had so much kick and so loud but it was great fun, even just to say that I've done it. After all that and checking out how they make rice wine and having a go at churning it (I sucked at it) we headed back and got to go in the tunnels. They were no higher than 1m and about 0.5m wide so you had to crouch down the whole time, and with no air flow in these tiny tunnels on a stinking hot day with tons of tourists it was a bit hard to handle so I got out at the first exit of 20m. It was great top go down and see what it was like but again, it had been widened for tourists. After that we sat down and got to try some tapioca with peanuts and a hot tea then it was back to the bus. It was an amazing trip and well worth the time and money. On the bus back Dong continued informing us of interesting facts like who owned Vietnam and when (so many countries!) and who is communist now and how the Americans tried using German sniffer dogs to find the tunnels so the Viet-cong put chilli powder at the air vents but then the dogs would sneeze and then the Americans knew to look there so the Viet-cong put American soaps there instead and confused the dogs. The bus dropped us off at the War Remnant Museum. Here we paid 15,000 entry and there were tanks and fighter jets and planes in the yard. We went inside and there were hundreds and hundreds of photos with captions. Some of the photos are horrendous and very eye-opening. The ones that really hit me were: an American carrying the mangled body of a Vietnamese hit with a grenade - two children shot dead on the side of the road - Americans stoking flames burning down a village - a photo taken in 2003 of a victim of a US unexploded weapon - all the photos from Agent Orange. Looking at everything it is clear it is from a Vietnamese point of view but you cannot really argue with all of the images and quotes on the wall (all very anti-US). You could also see the weapons, mines, bullets, rocket launchers etc. It was a truely eye-opening experience (I've never much been into history or learning about the wars until I arrived in Ho Chi Minh) and everyone in there is silent. We also saw the tiny tiger cages wrapped in barbed wire which held up to 14 people (in a bigger one) - more in the summer and less in the winter (very clever). They were so small you couldn't stand nor sit and had to remain crouched for days and days crammed in with many other prisoners. It was crazy to see. We then went to the Palace but didn't have much time (we needed to exchange dong for US which apparently the banks won't do and it was nearing 5:00pm). The place looks lovely and I would have liked to have more time there and gone on one of the free tours. I then went back to our hotel while Bundy went to sort out the US dollars. I had another shower and when Bundy returned we went for dinner down the street our booking agent was on which has a bunch of little cafes. I got a salad and they forgot my potatoes so I had to ask them for those and they cooked them then and I waited, was a good salad though. We then went back to the hotel to get the camera (batteries ran out whilst at the Palace - so annoyed) and we walked up to the Water Puppet Theatre. We were seated pretty close to the front. The music was good, singing and talking a little loud and it was all in Vietnamese. However, it was great fun and I would recommend seeing it once. I actually quite loved it and felt like a little kid all ooh-ing and ahh-ing at this little puppets and laughing when the puppets would catch each other instead of the fish. It was a good time! There were also dragons and weird chicken things and a cheeky cat and fish and fire-breathing dragons and smoke on the water. After that we headed back to our hotel (taking videos of the hectic night traffic which also decides to broaden their driving area to the footpath when the road is too full) and looked to book accommodation in Phnom Penh. I also received the most loveliest email from the staff at Sakura Hotel (Nha Trang) after I'd emailed them saying thanks and how much we enjoyed our stay. I got two emails - one very short thankyou from the manager and one long one from the staff that actually saw us (saying the managers are nice too but don't speak much English so they wrote us as well). They asked how our trip to Dalat went, said we were very "sweaty" but meant "sweety" (at least I hope we weren't very sweaty and sweat hearts!) and also hoped we'd come back again but with many kids next time. They were so adorable, I really hope we get to stay there again in the future. We wrote an Agoda review for them as well since they are new to the website and they don't get many customers.

Summary:
-Traffic is crazy but more civilised and organised than Hanoi and less of a headache
-Weather is stupidly hot and humid (buy one of the hand-held fans - I got a really good one from Hoi An)
-Cu Chi Tunnels is a great trip
-War Museum is a must-see
-Stay in District 1 or 3