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The bus journey from Cambodia to Vietnam was failry uneventful apart from the usual chaos with assigned seats being sat in by somebody else etc. The actual border crossing was easy as long as you already had a VISA, you weren't allowed on the bus without one. We just handed our passports over once on board and got them back once we were in Vietnam more or less....SIMPLE....and at no extra charge (take note Cambodia).
Saigon or Ho Chi Minh city was just a couple of hours away....but already you could see just how different Vietnam was. It is much more developed than Cambodia....with the usual attractive scenery etc. The roads were smoother and wider a huge improvement. Saigon itself is huge and scooters are everywhere....still feel uneasy driving through the cities here even as a passenger in a bus. First impressions of Saigon are good....lots to do here and it looks like a really nice city. We were dropped off right next to the tourist block, which was fantastic. So we just started walking in the general direction we wanted to stay. Wasn't long before we were approached by a young guy saying "I have cheap room in guest
house." I might have normally ignored him but he was an Asian version of my brothers good friend (Doonan) plus the guesthouse was just off the road from where we wanted to be. Turned out it was a good decision....great family, great room and all at a good price.
We didn't have time to do very much once we settled in so just walked around the block and made some enquiries about trips etc. We booked flights to Phu Quoc for the day after next so are time was limited here. Sat in a cafe watching the traffic pass, hunderds of people selling sunglasses and the locals in the park playing badminton with their feet. Heidi wasn't feeling great and so decided to get an early night...so I ventured out for a lonely meal and watched Chelsea lift the league cup!!
The next day we headed to the War Remnants museum which was really interesting....with photos of the Vietnam war and some American planes and tanks etc. It's interesting to see the other side of the war after seeing so many great American Vietnam films. After that we strolled around and enjoyed people watching....saw the presidents palace etc
and I even managed to drag Heidi to a local mall to see Iron Man 2!! The taxi ride home meant we saw even more of Saigon and I have to say I love it here....it's such a cool city. Parts of it remind me of London....and you can tell there's quite a bit of money floating around.
The next day we just had time for breakfast before being taken to the airport. I was sorry to leave and could have spent a few days here just slowly taking it all in. We had to come back to catch an overnight train so we hadn't seen the last of the place!
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