Arriving into Saigon several hours after leaving Mui Ne, you were presented almost immediately with the overopowering sense of being somewhere completely huge. Already, having spent the best part of two hours crawling through the endless city suburbs we were mentally prepared for what waited for us inside the city, but the hustle and bustle of the city just seemed to envelope around you. Bounding off the bus, we headed straight for our guesthouse and were greeted, yet again, by unbelievably friendly and warm hosts. For 18 dollars a night we were put in a nice room with a huge bed, but the hosts just went completely out of their way to make us feel at home. It's almost as if you were staying with your favourite aunty and uncle, the ones who let you eat chocolate digestives all day and torment the dog. If we were not looking forward to Saigoin initially, all worries seemed to disappear.
That night, after grabbing yet more noodle soup (pho), we headed out onto the main tourist drag and settled down on one of the small (very) plastic chairs and ordered a round of beers. After having our first real conversation about wedding guest lists (oh no!) we bumped into Derek and Yulia, the guys we had met in China over a month before. To be honest it was great to see familiar faces, even if we had met them on the trip. After Yulia went off to bed, Shell, Derek and myself carried on knocking back the cheap beers until the small hours. At some point during the night we even managed to bump into a guy wearing one of the famous 'Southsea Bronx' t-shirts, turns out their was a small group of guys who had studied at Portsmouth Uni! Although you are always going to bump into fellow Brits, we are indeed everywhere, this was slightly more surreal given were we were, and after many cheap beers, made us all pretty excited. We also managed to taste one of the many interesting snacks that are on offer from the multitude of different sellers, this time we opted for the dried squid. If you can imagine the worst smell you can possibly imagine, multiply that by infinity and you are somewhere close. The taste is, naturally, pretty foul.
We had planned to be up early the next morning in preperation to visit all of Saigon's inner-city attractions, unfortunately when we arrived back at the guesthouse at 2am, the doors were firmly locked and the lights were off. This meant shouting up to the old hotel owners to get them to come down and let us in. To be fair to them they were fine, but as they bolted the door back up and went to sleep we remembered that we had literally a mouth full of water left in the room. Both feeling very drunk, and massively dehydrated because of the high humidity, this wouldn't be the best preperation for an early start.
After eating a good breakfast in the morning, we headed towards the Notre Dame Cathedral, as the museums closed of lunch. Although not as charasmatic as it's Parisian counterpart, it still holds it own among the newly built skyscpaers. After stopping briefly for a much needed coffee, we headed towards the War Remnants Museum to learn everything there is to know about the famous American War, all gloriously provided in the finest Vietnamese propaganda four pounds can buy. In fairness, the museum leaves nothing out and every piece of history is retold in minute detail. Although in large part dedicated to the inhumane and illegal use of aggressive force by the States, arguably the best section was the story of the brave men and women of the press who risked life and limb to photograph and report the war in it's truest form. Some of the most evocative photo's of the 20th century were taken in Vietnam in the sixties and all were on show here. By far the most gruesome spectacle though was yet again the treatment of prisoners. Retelling thier stories in horiffic detail, you have to keep telling yourself that this will surely never happen whilst being constantly aware that these inhumane acts were purpotrated only 40 years ago. All in all a great museum but you leave wanting to cry for the state of mankind.
After treating ourselves to an amazing burger to cheer oursleves up we had an early night in preperation to be picked up by a tour that would be taking us to the Cu Chi Tunnels the following day. Waking up at six, we wandered outside and found a bakery that did 9p baguettes (warm ones) to settle our hunger for the 70km drive out the city. On the way we were astonished to be part of a bus group that was 100% British. It was an odd feeling to be behind two Essex boys constantly talking about the Thailand Full Moon Parties and a group at the back all complaining of being hungover in their grating home-counties slang.
Half way to the tunnels the bus stopped at a workshop run by the government that acts as an opportunity for people with special needs to work in full employment. Something which is very rare in Vietnam. Due to the devestating effects of 'Agent Orange' and other chemical defoliants used by the US in the war, many people have suffered horrific deformities as a result. Without the protection of a recognised welfare system behind them these people, in many cases, are completely alienated within society. This place then gives them something to do other than beg. You can't help but feel though that you are kind of being shown around on a government tour, you know, someth8ing which ignores the obvious corruption, the choking traffic and huge rich-poor divide and just focuses on the good things they are doing for the special people. You don't fool me Uncle Ho!
Anyway, the tunnels! They were Ok I suppose, the story is amazing. 250 kms of tunnels built under a large swathe of Vietnamese countryside that the Americans, with their vastly superior firepower, just couldn't defeat. Some of the tunnels are absolutely tiny and we at least got to travel for 5-10 minutes underground but it was, naturally, a claustrophobic nightmare. Overall, I guess the worst part was the guns. For 20-30,000 Dong per bullet you could fire anyone of an AK-47, M-16, Shotgun and a few others on an adjacent range. We just felt lost and did not understand why this had anything to with, you know, anything. It's as if people had come here not to hear the amazing story, but to tell their mates they had fired Rambo's gun.
Fortunately for us the day's highlight was meeting Toby and Helen. A couple from Manchester who were coming to the end of a three week holiday in Vietnam. After meeting them earlier in the day it felt as though we had a lot in common and spent the rest of the day with them, arranging to meet up later for food and maybe a beer a or two. Before we did we managed to film two massive rats chilling on the top of a coffee bar. They were as big as badgers! The rest of the night we spent with Toby and Helen, a fantastic couple of people who seemed to have so much in common with our lives. You kind of meet a lot of different people whilst travelling, I guess it's probably the highlight, with these guys though it was as if we had been hanging out with some of our best friends back home. Both of us hope that we can stay in touch and hopefully see them when we return for some Manchester action, it would be a shame if we didn't. In a way, I guess it's probably the worst thing about travelling too, the fact that you have to say goodbye far too quickly. I hate saying goodbyes.
Next stop, Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia and another different country. This means we have to say our farewells to Vietnam, a country we have fallen head over heels for. It has it's problems, some of them are pretty obvious but what it does have, it makes you crazy for more. The food and the people make this country and their work-ethic and determination to better themselves by getting their sleeves dirty has to be admired, in fact scrap that, it's what we should aspire to...
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