Cu Chi Cu Chi Cooh

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Saigon.

or is it Ho Chi Minh City? The answer is both. Saigon is generically used by all Vietnamese, although the official title is Ho Chi Minh City. Either way it is a place to behold. Just go and have a look on YouTube and search for Saigon Traffic to see proof.

We were in Saigon for 4 days. In that time we saw the war museum, a collection of photograhs and artifacts documenting the war. Some of the most harrowing pictures you will ever see are housed in this collection, from the famous "Girl in the picture", a very small burned naked girl running from a napalm explosion, to a GI holding part of a corpse.

I have never really studied the war before, but I know that a lot of people were against it at the time (remind you of something familiar?). I know now that many, many people lost their lives unnecessarily. The country still keeps these monuments to remind people of the very very recent past. There are others. The Cu Chi tunnel network stretches 200km from Cambodia to the outskirts of Saigon. These tunnels were approximately 80cm tall and 40cm wide and were used to get soldiers and supplies from the North to the South via Cambodia. If you see the film Platoon, you get an idea of what they are. With this kind of structure to deal with, its no wonder the Americans could never win.

Other "attractions" include the reunification palace, the site of the old HQ and the fall of Saigon on 30th April 1975 as the tanks went through the main gates, and the Xa Loi pagoda, where several monks set fire to themselves in 1963 to protest against the Catholic regime in South Vietnam. One of the monks was captured on TV and highlighted their plight in Vietnam.

Plus there are some great bars, including one where I managed to watch the Champions league matches at 2am. Fantastic.

And yes, I did get on the back of a moto in Saigon. I didnt know whether it would be safer to stay on or jump off whilst it was moving. It ranks as one of the most frightening experiences of my life (after a play off final of course).

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