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30th december we arrived in Ho Chi Minh (saigon) by bus. Luckily we got dropped off right in the backpacker area, so didn't take us long to find a hostel. The hostel is called Nga Hoang hotel, located down a little alley. Its a good hostel, cheapish, basic breakfast included (jam, butter, egg, bread, tea or coffee... and bananas!) jam on baguette every morning for peter then. Lucy also enjoyed the coffee, which wasn't one of those 3 in 1 sachets she had been given a few times. We stayed in a 5 bed mixed dorm. Peter the only male for the whole of our stay. The toilet and shower are just behind a plastic screening so you can hear anyone in the shower or on the toilet, not nice to listen to people on the toilet in the middle of the night!!!
We went out for a wander around and found a very cheap local eatery on an alley. Sometimes we have found that these cheap local places seem to have the best tasting foods. We did some more exploring of the nearby area... Can't really explore all of Saigon on foot, its massive! Over 5million people live there. That evening we ate at a little restaurant called Asian kitchen or as Peter kept saying Asian Delight! The owner of the restaurant was a very funny and happy man who we talked to alot whilst we were there. He reminded Lucy of Daniel Astin! He spoke very good english, all which he had learned from the bbc language website. Peter ordered Chicken and cheese cutlets from the japanese section of the menu.... unsure on what exactly he was going to get. Turned out to be one of the best dishes he tasted in south east asia. That night knowbody slept well in our dorm, apart from the fat german girl who snorred alllllll night!!! Thank god she left the following day.
On new years eve we went to Cu Chi tunnels on a day trip. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped achieve ultimate military success. The tunnels were very good and interesting, also seeing different traps they used to injure and kill the enemy. Towards the end of the tour we got to crawl through some of the tunnel section. Wouldn't of liked to live down there like the viet cong did! (check out the photos). The only frustrating part of the tour was that we had a very very large group, so sometimes we couldn't see or hear our guide. Would recommend this trip though to anyone visiting saigon.
In the evening we went to a pub, watched Blackburn somehow beat man Utd and ate some good pub grub (chicken strips, burger and chips mmmm). Also talked to a America/Vietnamese guy who bought us a jagerbomb each. He was with his brother in law who had never been to the city before. Peter gave him a slice of his pepperoni pizza as he had never tried pizza in his life. He didn't enjoy it and left half of it! (who doesn't like pizza??) Later on we had a drink at a street bar then went with a group of people to the city centre where there was a big countdown.
New years day we went walking further into the city, doing abit of site seeing. We had a cyclo journey, which is basically a bicycle with a carriage on the front where you sit... really only big enough for 1 person.... but we didn't want to pay for 2 cyclos so we both squeezed into 1. Think a few people that saw us found it funny. We visited the War Remnants Museum later that afternoon. It primarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War. The tiger cages that prisoners were kept in did not look nice. Outside there are lots of american military equipment and vehicles. (James Dandie check out the photos). A must see if you visit Saigon.
The owner of our hostel made us spring rolls for an evening snack which was very kind of her. Some reviews we had read about the hostel said the lady owner was horrible and nasty, and others had said the complete opposite!! We luckily got on well with her and enjoyed our stay there.
That evening we went back to see our friend at the Asian Kitchen and ate there again... Peter obviously had the same dish he had the time before! We left Saigon the following morning, we were going on a 2 night, 3 day trip of the Mekong delta, ending in Cambodia. Before we got picked up, Lucy got s*** on by a bird.... HAHA
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