Saigon

 The historic Post Office in the Saigon











Saturday 12th
Goodbye Cambodia. An easier day to today, as we headed off to Saigon. Miraculously there was no hitches in departing from Cambodia, flight times or immigration and customs in Vietnam. A short hop over to Saigon of about an hour and the much longer drive to the hotel in downtown Saigon. After check in we had our own time to familiarise ourselves with the city. It was much quieter than when I was here last which was 3 years ago at Tet (Vietnamese New Year). A quick stroll of a few blocks, the women went shopping, so we went to a local cafe for a few samples of the local brew 333.

Sunday 13th

Out to Cu Chi Tunnels. This was busy with a lot of tour groups and general visitors, Turns out that as well as being Sunday, it is the start of the 2 month summer school holiday break. We sat thru the indoctrination oops I mean presentation of the history and the resourcefulness of of the VC fighting against the American "capitalists" in what is called the "American War". I did the full length of the Cu Chi tunnel that is open for visitors, our party, which has now grown to 16 since moving from Cambodia had about 12 volunteer, with several pulling out along the way at various exit points with only 2 of us (Josie and me) doing the full length. I got some good footage of this in my handycam, remembering to out it on night vision this time.

The tiny entrance to one of the tunnels. The visitor entrance is larger and easier to get into than this








 After Cu Chi Tunnels the 1-2 hour drive back into town to do a walking around the French district of Saigon. Some of the sites included Notre Dame Cathedral, Opera House, Post Office).

Then off to the War Remnants Museum, once again very interesting seeing the Vietnam perspective on the war. There are some graphic photos, including the photo that was in all of the papers with the young Vetnamese girl running away from the bombs exploding (Agent Orange).

maximum of 3 allowed on a motor bike, and a blind eye is turned to 4. This one has 5, although one of the guys got a shot of 6.



Did I tell you about the temperature here? Everyday has been at least 35 degrees, with the humidity 80% plus. The temperature will get higher as we go north, as will the humidity