Lesley, we're sorry, but Louise has significantly increased her backpack diffs......

What can we say? Saigon has an alarming amount of beautiful trinkets that we simply must own.

So, today we got up and left our hostel, having received a tip from friends a day ahead of us about a hostel that included free breakfast and dinner in the rate. Being that we were already paying $6, we thought we'd give it a shot. With erin as navigator (ish) we set off with rucksacks in search of our new digs. Saigon has certain areas that smell a lot like Phnom Penh or worse. These areas are called markets. Rotting fish and meat prevented us from taking a shortcut in the heat, so you can imagine we must have been gagging to go the long way round. We arrived at Madam Cuc's Hotel 64, where room with aircon, tv a fridge, a shower, breakfast and dinner would set us back a whopping $8 each. Not bad eh?
Once we'd gotten our room and had our bags hoisted up the six flights of stairs for us on a pulley cable (oh yes the luxury), we headed out to look for breakfast (you have to have stayed overnight to qualify for hostel freebies).
In a city where they'd happily eat beef noodles for every meal, and often do, breakfast is no small challenge for western girls dying for some bread and jam! We walked round half the city for this whim, and after about five stops and one false start (where we sat down and ordered only to be told ten mins later there was none and that we should pay for our drinks anyway despite not having gotten them yet) we finally found a very efficient Vietnamese waitress who promptly presented us with our heart's desire: freshly baked baguettes with butter and strawberry jam. By this time it was midday. This is often how time seems to escape us, we resolve to be better in future, honest.
After breakfast we returned to the hostel for what seemed like the first shower we'd had in a week. In fact, despite being certain that I was three days worth of filthy, the girls assured me I had indeed showered the night before. The heat is affecting my memory for definite.
Fresh and clean again, we booked a tour of the Mekong delta for the next day (tomorrow) and then we went wandering and booked the bus to Nha Trang for Saturday. Strangely enough, we thought for sure it was Wednesday today. Is it the heat or are we becoming die hard travellers who care not for the restrictive date and day system of the corporate West? Whatever it is, we nearly booked the bus for a day we wouldnt show up. Whoops.
Needing caffeine in Erin and Steph's case and chocolate in Louise's, we made for a very Western Starbucks-esque coffee shop and satisfied our cravings ten-fold. Erin, snuggled up comfortably with her feet up on a big sofa, was told off by a smelly European who called her an animal, despite appearing to have forgotten what soap was. She was angry. And full of caffeine.
Fed and watered, we began the laborious task of selecting a shop to buy many many trinkets from. The less you all know about that the better :)
After shopping, we came back to free dinner of ahem...beef noodles (surprise) and spring rolls. It was actually very good for free dinner. (Daddy Peoples, I know you're muttering 'nothing's free in this world" - its a figure of speech, and being included in the room rate it probably worked out at approx. $1.30 so it's still quite reasonable...love you)
We sat and chatted with our fellow hostel mates, and that brings us to now! We're having a Saigon beer (Louise's sophisticated palate objects to anything but the finest cocktails so she is abstaining) and planning an early night as our tour requires us to be down for breakfast at 6.45am. Delightful.
Again, we hope you are all well and missing us as much as we miss you
lots of love
the girls