Ho Chi Minh city

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Due to the flight cock up i actually arrived an hour earlier than i was supposed to but still no public transport so had to use my haggling skills on the taxis. Driving through the city i started to realise how much im fed up of huge cities their all crazy with traffic and the prices are all higher staying in Hoi An really changed my idea of places i want to spend my time over the next few months. Although my hostel is nice and clean bug free.... its pretty close to everything as well so i think ill survive haha.



I spent my first day adjusting to the heat and nursing my bug ridden poor body i went for a short walk but felt so exhausted that i came back and had an afternoon nap i later found out that the antihistamines i had taken would make me drowsy makes sense now oops. In the evening i went for a walk another girl from the hostel to meet some people at the international food market there are so many things to choose from although its a bit of a tourist trap so some of the prices were a little compare to what i have been paying i had a delicious butter chicken curry though so it was worth it as a little treat.

Today i challenged the local bus system and went to see the Cu Chi tunnels by myself instead of with a tour not sure if that was such a good idea now it was a very long afternoon it took me a good couple of hours to get there and back so hot on the way there and was falling asleep on the way back listening to my music through headphones i fell asleep and a young guy woke me up and told me to be more careful with my phone. Nice of him as it was jut on my lap of course I wasn't intending to fall asleep but never mind all is well i had a baguette for my dinner im eating way way way to much bread here but it seems to be the cheapest option. My plan for tomorrow is to go to the museums and learn a little more about the war as today was really interesting seeing the little ditches that they lived in during the war and traps that they laid for the American solider we were even told that they made the entrance so small because they are small people who have steamed rice bodies and Americans have KFC bodies so they wouldn't be able to get in to the tunnels i found this to be hilarious but considering i have one of these said KFC bodies i didnt try and get in to one of the original entrance holes knowing my luck id get stuck.

Tomorrow night i have plans with a lady i me back in the UK that lives out here and we're going for dinner and cocktails i actually have a reason to put on some make up for the first time in about a month haha might even wash my hair shock horror 😊.



So today i went to the war museum and it was quite saddening to look at all of the pictures that they have there in relation to the things that happened during the war and also the after effects of the gas that was dropped in particular the agent orange. I did not really know what this was until today but to see the effects that it has had on future generations of children in the area is deeply upsetting those children who had nothing to do with the war some to young to even know it happened are paying the price for the gases that were dropped on their families in previous years. Before know i did not realise what a crime was committed against these people from the western world and i quite frankly felt ashamed even though it was not Britain that directly caused these atrocities i saw that countries all over the world were protesting for America to leave Vietnam but im still a little confused as to how the French came to rule here will have to do a little more reading overall it is very interesting to read about but also very sad that there should be anything so terrible to read about in the first place i am glad that laws have been put in place by the human rights of Geneva to stop anything like this happening at the hands of a super power again though i imagine my very small knowledge of the situation bearly scratches the surface of what truly happened here. I finished my evening on a higher note and went for cocktails with a friend who lives here in Ho Chi Minh she showed me the nicer side of the city that i otherwise would unlikely of had a chance to see. We went to a rooftop cocktail bar that was fantastic each cocktail came out in an elaborate decoration one was even in a ship that resembled the black pearl, they made use of dry ice in their displays and poured water on when it arrived at the table creating a flowing mist it was wonderful and entertaining not to mention super tasty. Next we went to a lovely Italian restaurant a real treat compared to the places that i have been haunting in recent month being very cheap on my travels so it was nice to have a reason to put some make up on. Best not stay up to late as i have a trip tomorrow that picks up at 8am.

So yesterday i went to the Mekong Delta which is a river that flows from Tibet right the way down to the south coast of Vietnam. Of course in my one day trip i was only able to see a small portion of the river, though I thought we would go to see a floating market as that it what i have heard is the main purpose of the river in some areas although e did not go to that area. Instead we traveled across the large river on a type of tourist boat which took us to a smaller island there we were able to see the local people using the flourishing coconut of this region to make various sweets oils and lotions. The sweets were nice but not quite nice enough for me to want to buy an entire box so i settled for the taster i was also very tempted to buy coconut oil for my tan but being handmade was a little expensive. We then were escorted to smaller boats for only 10 people that took us down a little river were you got to feel like you were cruising through some kind of amazon rain forrest only seeing the occasion hut on the river bank. Some poor lady managed to drop her band new iPhone in the murky brown river as she climbed out of the boat, the stone steps were a little on the steep side but her bag wasn't really closed properly either. After grabbing a stick and seeing how deep the water was her and her husband who are also from the same town as me back home decided that the phone was no more RIP. We climbed back on our tour boat and started to sail away when a commotion started on the tiny walkway dock that we had departed from it appeared that some guy had jumped in the water and retrieved the phone braver than me because that water is filthy. They passed the phone along the line of boats until it reached where our boat had now pulled alongside and then the charged the couple 300 dong for the retrieval which i found quite amusing but i would want a substantial payment for jumping in there as well. Hopefully it works when it dries out. Next we got to go on little river boats with a lady at either end rowing away only 4 people on these boats we're getting smaller and smaller they of course asked for tips which seemed a little rude i understand that the locals don't have much money but we had kinda already paid to be on these boats as part of the tour. Never mind we gave them a little something as it cant be an easy job. During lunch i sat with a nice group of people from Malaysia who were on a school reunion and had all traveled from different places to be here. We were able to have a little walk around and saw an alligator pit where they were all lazing around in the sun most not even moving a tiny bit. There were also pits of frogs, toads and snakes and two cages of huge porcupines that we could feed fruit scraps to. At the end of the day we were taken back to the bus by our our boat and had a rather long drive back to the city, mini buses are not the most comfortable thing to spend 2 and half hours on!

We were dropped off that the central market so the group from Singapore and myself decided to have a little walk around and then sat to have something to eat i ordered some fried chicken noodles and i think the others ordered everything else they repeatedly passed me new things to try and expected nothing in return lovely people that i may hopefully see again if i end up down in Malaysia.



Another early start today time to leave Vietnam all packed up and went for breakfast only to find out when the hostel said they would run me to the bus station that they meant on a motorbike. The owner of the hostel crammed my raver large hold-all in front of him reaching almost his chin passed me a helmet and said lets go.... his wife laughing at me from the door way came along and shuffled me towards the bike this city is nuts the roads are crazy and i was about to do things the local way 2 people and suitcase on a moped. Sod it its better than walking in this heat! 5 minutes later my feet were back on the ground and i was checking in for my bus its going to be a long ole day I have just now passed over the border in to Cambodia and 12pm and have another few hours to Phnom Pen then another bus which will take 6 hours to my destination Sihanukville 12 hours in total but at least it ain't a mini bus.

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