Ho Chi Minh / Saigon

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Ho Chi Minh City

We decided to fly into Ho Chi Minh and avoid the 24 hour train journey for the same price - note the recurring theme! On our first day we met two lovely people, Kate and Ben from NZ, and decided to have a wander round the city together. We started off being poked and proded at the market (Tory had her ass slapped by the ladies selling jeans!), we then went to the Palace where the President of the South conducted the Vietnam War from (including some very retro furniture) and followed it up with a depressing but incredibly interesting visit to the War Museum. We realised that much of our knowledge of the war came from American films. The next day we visited the History Museum, which had an amazing and amusing water puppet theatre, and the Botanical Gardens.

We also did a day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels which included a visit to the multi-faith Cao Dai Temple (each of the three faith's is represented with a different colour and piece of clothing). We spent the afternoon wandering around Cu Chi with our tour guide who was very informative on the history as well as the ingenuity and determination of the Viet Cong. Went down a tunnel (Tory had second thoughts and turned back) and shot a AK47. Conclusion - War bad, firing guns fun... but very very loud.

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Photos

Looks alot easier to hit things in films
"Come on son - let the gun go it's all over"

Market
Including frisky store holders

Water Puppets
Apparently there was a storyline - we don't know who they are or what they were doing!

More puppets!!
The dragon and the Phoenix

Very small tunnel
Anyone fancy living down there?

Will in tunnel
This is a slightly hysterical smile