Saigon

... and the Moc Bai border crossing

I arrived in Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as it's meant to be known) at around 4pm on the 13th February (New Years Eve). The bus journey wasn't great although driving through the jungle was pretty awesome. I met an American girl on the bus called Katie so we chatted for a while at the lunch stop. The bus dropped us off outside their offices right in the backpacker district so it was only a very short walk to my hostel. Katie came with me but there was no room for her due to Tet. I was lucky to have booked ahead. We agreed to meet up for dinner and then I met my dorm-mates. Thank goodness the dorm has air conditioning as it's so hot and humid down here. It doesn't help our dorm is on the top floor and there's no lift... Owch! My leg muscles get a workout every time I want to get up to my room. A group of us went out for food that evening - two Americans (San Francisco and Detroit), a Canadian, a Dutch guy, two English guys and an Irish guy as well as a girl from the Netherlands. We found some food and then headed down towards the waterfront for the New Year fireworks. It was absolutely packed with hundreds if not thousands of people and motorbikes. One of the streets had been shut off for a flower display and that was as far down as we got as there was just too many people. The flowers were pretty and they'd turned off the street lights in favour of paper lanterns which were lovely. At midnight they set of the fireworks and they went on for ages! But although pretty we ended up showered in what I think must have been the gunpowder in them. Very gritty. The walk home was a nightmare as the roads were at a standstill, motorbikes packed in like a can of sardines so trying to the cross the roads was a mission.

The next morning I met Katie downstairs and four of us went for a walk around the city. We weren't too sure what would be open and most of the shops and restaurants were shut. The flower street however was packed with people all dressed up in their new clothes and taking photos of each other. Walked passed a posh hotel and they had a Chinese dragon dance going on so we snuck in and watched that in the air conditioning. Had a quick look at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office before going back to our hostel to hide from the heat. It is unbelievable. I though I was ok with hot weather but this is crazy. I think it's the humidity more than anything. That evening we had food in a little street kitchen and then went to the local bar where we sat on plastic stools in the road. We nicknamed a cockroach 'Frothy' and I got freaked out by a guy that had a little live snake through his mouth and up his nose. So so horrible. I went and stood on the other side of the street with Frothy until him and his snake was gone.

In the morning I went to the War Remnants Museum with French Julien and Swedish Linda. There were lots of American aircraft outside the building and inside the museum was very interesting if more than a little depressing. There were hundreds of photographs of the war, showing the fighting as well as the massacres and torture done by American soldiers. A lot of the photographers that took them also died in the conflict. There was an interesting but horrible exhibition on the use of a chemical called Agent Orange and its aftereffects, including a couple of preserved mutated foetus'. Really not nice. I have never been so glad not to be American in my whole life. Admittedly the museum is very biased with lots of propaganda on the brilliance of the Communists and the evils of the Americans without showing what the Viet Cong did back to them but it's still horrific. The museum shut at 12pm so we were kicked out and went back to the hostel. On the way we found a milkshake place that was really good and just what was needed as we were so hot. Got lunch from the bakery next to our hostel and retreated to our room to "chill" out. We were going to walk to the Ben Thanh market but it's still shut because of Tet. New Year here officially lasts from the 14th to the 16th but the rumours are it goes on for almost a week! Oh dear. That evening after watching Terminator 3 we went for food at a restaurant called Stella and gave in to the temptation of Western food.

Tuesday morning an Australian guy called Andy and I went to see the Revolutionary Museum and the Independence Palace. Both were interesting if a little random. The palace has been hardly touched since the 1970s so it still has all the old furniture and command post with maps in the basement. For lunch that day I had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. Bad I know but they were needed! That afternoon Andy and I tried to find a tour for the next day to the Cu Chi tunnels. Despite all the tour agencies around it was actually harder than it seemed as a lot had put their prices up because of Tet (yeah, yeah, that old excuse!). One tried to charge us $12 for a tour that they normally run for $5. In the end we found one for $7 and signed up for it.

The tour left at 8.30am so it was a fairly early start to get breakfast first. Took us almost two hours to get to the tunnels but our guide was very interesting. He was in his 30s so he's lived under the proper Communist regime that didn't change until 1995 when the trade embargo with the USA was ended. His father had been a marine fighting for the South Vietnamese Government with the Americans. It was interesting to hear his views on the "American" war and how people think of it now. Arrived at the tunnels and watched a short, 1960s Vietnamese government propaganda film on the villagers of Cu Chi and then saw the booby traps for the dogs as well as humans. Not very nice at all. Lots of sharp spikes and that sort of thing. I fitted into one of the fox holes (very small - one larger man got stuck!) and saw the munition bunkers. Walked passed the shooting range where you could fire an AK47 but I didn't see the point. They then took us to the 'real' tunnels. They have some there that have been widened to allow tourists down them comfortably but they have kept some un-widened ones open also and those were the ones we went down. Andy went first so I followed second. It was really cramped, you had to squat or crawl to move along. And they weren't straight either, it turned and sloped down and then we came to a hole in the floor of the tunnel so we had to climb down further. It was really hot and there wasn't many lights so at some points it was pitch black. It was only 50m long but felt so much longer. Very claustrophobic but I managed not to freak out and arrived in the bunker at the other side. People used to live in these! For 20 years!!! All underground - there were hundreds of kilometers of these tunnels. It's amazing. I couldn't have done it. We were back in Saigon in time for lunch and I tried some tomato soup but it was more like tomato mush. Not good. Finally got to the Ben Thanh market and I bought some really cool chopsticks! I've got so used to using them now I figured I'd carry it on at home :D That evening we were going to go to Cholon (China Town) but it was too far away. Had a burger instead. Afterwards I booked my bus to go to Phomh Penh for the next day. Went for drinks at the local bar. It's 12.000 VD for a jug of bia hoa (local beer) which gives you four glasses! Isn't too bad either.

Had a final walk around the backpacker area with Andy the next morning before I got my bus to Phomh Penh. It was two and a half hours to the Moc Bai/Bavet border crossing and I refused to give the man on the bus my passport, insisting on getting my own visa at the border. He was saying that there would be huge queues and he'd get us the fast track visa for $25. I ignored him, but I was the only one. Arrived at the border and I went through immigration first with my bags. Walked across to the Cambodian border and I was the only person there! Straight to the visa man and filled out the form and paid... $20 :D Hee hee. Straight through passport control and then had to sit and wait on the other side for almost an hour for the rest of my bus to get through. So much for fast track! Was feeling quite smug actually. The Vietnamese lady that was sitting next to me on the bus also got through quite quickly so we sat together and she had a look at my passport. Once on the bus she insisted on feeding me fruit! She didn't speak any English so I've no idea what these things were. They were red and bell-shaped and very tasty. We arrived in Phomh Penh at 6pm absolutely exhausted. In Cambodia now! Woop!