Sure enough, I started. I even made it past the first day's entry but then ran out of the will to carry on. I have no idea why. Am I just getting lazier?
Anyway, as I said in the previous post, a picture can indeed replace a multitude of words. But perhaps they can all still be a bit confusing without any form of narration. So here's a quick one working chronologically through the photos on http://doobrie.co.uk
First we flew into Saigon (aka Ho Chi Ming City aka HCMC) and we were only there a day and a half, some of the time knackered after our long flight. We checked out a "famous" (according to our guide books) bar called "Apocalypse Now" but found that it was basically just a glorified sports bar with attendant hookers. Alright if you, like the dirty old men that were hanging around the place, are looking for that sort of thing. We ate in a nice family run restaurant one night but then in a more westernised place the second night called "The Underground" complete with London Underground roundels branding all over the place.
Next stop was the Cu-Chi tunnels to the West of the city where we where shown how tiny the tunnels that the local resistance soldiers used to hide and fight against the French and Americans in two wars. And yes, they were REALLY tiny. They had created a larger 100m "tourist tunnel" for us to try out with escape steps every 20 meters. I crawled on my hands and knees, head bowed, broad shoulders scraping the sides with barely no light in hot and humid conditions. It was all a bit crazy! Why any tourist would want to walk the full 100m, I have no idea. Twenty was more than enough for all of us!
We were also shown a lovely array of traps that had been used in the "American" war to severely main or kill soldiers backed up by a lovely mural. Then it was onto the presidential palace and then the War Remnants museum. This had a really good and moving collection of photos taken during the war by professional photographers, along with some not so nice ones depicting the horrors of war.
Then leaving this all behind, we hopped on a boat and rode along the Mekong Delta to a small village where we got to bed for the night in a home-stay. Our beds were simple mattresses (we slept in sleeping bags liners on top) with mosquito netting provided above that we all tucked in under the mattress when we retired for the night. It was actually very nice. The air was fresh (baring the wafts of anti-mosquito stuff that we had all liberally sprayed onto ourselves) and I felt very relaxed out here.
After a good nights sleep and a nice hot shower (okay, it was more of a hostel than literally staying at someones house) we left to go to a place called Chau Doc where our guide's family lived. We jokily asked if we could have dinner at his parent's place that night not realising that he was taking us seriously and all ten of us did indeed end up having dinner cooked by his mum that night! Unfortunately the food disagreed with a few of the group and we all got mercilessly bitten by mosquitoes as the door to their house was left open to give us some fresh air. Oh well!
Next day, itching slightly, we headed across the border from Cambodia into Vietnam. It was a land crossing, so no air taxes (good) but instead we had to go through a series of border huts, filling in a form in each. Our bags even got scanned by an x-ray machine whilst locals casually strolled across the border with their donkeys and oxen watching us curiously.
To be continued...
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