It is damn hot here!

We have seen lots of appalling traffic while travelling around Asia and everyone told us that it is the worst in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), well they were right. There are many many mopeds and motorbikes everywhere, and there do not seem to be any rules of the road. As an example we saw a man on a moped, his passenger had a large mug of coffee and they were riding around a roundabout in the wrong direction against the flow of very heavy traffic. Pedestrians appear to have no rights whatsoever. If you want to cross the road you just have to walk out through the traffic and let them dodge around you. Someone advised us that you are more likely to get hit if you make unpredictable movements or stop suddenly, so you have to slowly and confidently walk into the mass of vehicles and hope that you reach the other side in one piece. You are not even safe on the pavement, as it is used like an additional lane if there are red traffic lights or a short cut can be made.The motorbike/moped riders wear very silly helmets that look more like horse riding hats and come in a plethora of patterns and colours including things like burberry print and cartoon characters. A bit more of a fashion statement than anything that might save your life!

Some interesting facts for you; Vietnam has a population of over 80 million people, 7 million of them live in HCMC. There are 4 million motorbikes in HCMC. In Vietman 10000 people are killed every year in road traffic accidents.

The War Remnants Museum delivers a different view of the Vietnam war from the sanitised version that we are used to from the US. There are graffic pictures of disfigured victims of chemical weapons the Americans used like 'Agent Orange'. Children of the local people are still being born with terrible deformities and this will continue for generations to come, unlike the US Vietnam Veterans Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There were quotes from the Geneva Convention and the Declaration of Independence around the walls accompanied by many examples of the atrocities committed by the US soldiers that illustrated their hipocracy. Whilst we appreciate that this is the view of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, it enables us to obtain a much more balanced view of the whole picture and what went on.

The following day we visited some preserved Viet Cong tunnels at a place called Cu Chi about 70km from HCMC. First we were shown a black and white film with a voiceover by the female Vietnamese equivalent of Mr Chumley-Warner. Telling us how the Vietnamese resisted the invading US army and showing particular individuals who were honoured for being very good 'American Killers'. Then Eric was able to try getting into a tunnel leaving no evidence that he had been there, he failed- all of the leaves fell off of the door as he wriggled to try to get himself into the very small hole. There was a display of the very nasty traps that were laid for the GI's and we all had the opportunity to crawl through a tunnel, specially widened for our big western capitalist backsides!