Ho Chi Minh City

The following morning we took a motorbike tour, where we both rode on the back of our own tour guide’s scooter. During the tour we stopped at the palace, post office and book street and got to see Ho Chi Minh City's very own Notre Dame. We learned the city was occupied by the French, when it was still known as Saigon and that they had wanted to turn it into a mini Paris. It was fun spotting all the leftover French architecture during our visit and we found the opera house particularly striking. After the tour, we went to an indoor market, where I couldn't help but do a bit of shopping. I came away with two new pairs of lightweight trousers, having chucked away two pairs during the trip so far. Will, as usual, did not commit to buying anything.

Wednesday, we visited the Cu Chi tunnels, a classic tourist day trip from Ho Chi Minh City. Our tour guide picked us up in the morning, but he only gave us a three minute warning! We had to scramble around trying to get dressed, brush our teeth and pack our day bag all at the same time, it's a miracle we didn't forget anything. After that rather stressful start, we had calmed down by the time we arrived at the jungle, where the tunnels are. The tour guide had cautioned us about all the poisonous snakes, spiders and scorpions that live in the jungle and that we might encounter. He also warned us not to wander away from him as there are still live landmines and bombs deeper into the jungle. We learned about the Vietnam war and the guerrilla warfare used and whilst he was talking, there was very loud gunfire in the background from the nearby firing range. It gave us a more realistic experience of what it would have been like fighting in the jungle as we descended into the replica tunnel built for tourists. After about 60 metres, I started to feel claustrophobic and a bit lightheaded from the lack of oxygen in there, so I had to exit up one of the access ladders. Will made it the whole 100 metres, even though his greater height meant that he had to crouch and crawl even more, making it really uncomfortable for him.

In the evening we decided to take a wander down a new road in our search for dinner and somehow ended up on a street with lots of clubs that had flashing lights, playing loud dance music with girls dancing on podiums out front. As we walked along, still on the hunt for a restaurant, we were stopped every few steps by staff trying to get us to have drinks in their club. We persisted though, leaving the music behind until we managed to find somewhere a bit more quiet to eat!

On Thursday we had a restful morning, just venturing out into the sun for lunch and spending the rest of the time relaxing and catching up on admin. In the evening we attended a show at the Saigon Opera House. We were a bit worried that we wouldn't be allowed in, as we hadn't packed any smart clothes with us. However, no one seemed to be checking the dress code and we weren't the only ones in trainers. The show was amazing, better than either of us had expected. It was a mix of circus skills, acrobatics, dance, physical theatre and live music. We ended our evening with a trip up to the viewing deck of Bitexco financial tower to look out at the city all lit up at night.

The next day we went on a full day trip to the Mekong Delta. It was about a 2hr bus ride to get there, but it was nice and smooth sailing with our tour guide picking us up from right outside our accommodation. At the Mekong Delta, we got a boat across to some of the islands that we would be exploring as part of our tour. We learnt that the islands are named after Vietnam's sacred animals with Unicorn island as our first stop. There we got to see how the inhabitants gather honey from the bees and all the different products they make using the honey, pollen and beeswax. After trying some of their delicious edible goods, we came away with some honeyed dried bananas, yum! We followed our guide round the corner from the honey shop, only to find her with a live python, which the bee keepers kept as well as their hive. Everyone was allowed to hold the snake and I volunteered eventually, but Will got no choice in the matter, with the snake being thrust upon him as soon as we had caught up with the guide. Then it was time to watch some traditional live music and we were given lots of different fruits to eat during the show. After a relaxing ride in a smaller boat down an inland canal, we boarded our river boat again and this time were taken to Phoenix island. Here we visited a coconut candy factory and watched the process from breaking the coconut open to wrapping the individual sweets. The best part was getting to try lots of the different flavours that they make there. The sweets were surprisingly chewy, a bit like toffee. After lunch at a restaurant on the island, we got the river boat back to where our tour bus was parked. The last stop of the day was at a Buddhist pagoda with three giant Buddha statues, then it was time to head back to the city.