Ho Chi Minh, formerly Saigon before the war, is the largest city in Vietnam with 8 million people living in the city. Lots of people have moved into the city to make more money, causing a over population problem. It's a very hectic city like Hanoi, but without the colonial charm and historic streets. The city had taken on a modern almost western feel, with actual pedestrian pathways for humans NOT motorbikes! There are parking areas for moped and motorbikes with assigned security guards. The buildings are all modern and newly built on wide spacious roads. Long green parks have been built in the city as a break away from the chaos of city life.

We took a flight from crazy Dalat to Ho Chi Minh, it was a quicker and slightly cheaper option for us. The Dalat airport was tiny, we actually walked across the runway to get on our plane! The flight was only 1 hour, but the pilot decided that he wanted to fly up and down repeatedly for 30 minuets of the journey so Nicole felt pretty ill and all the Vietnamese were hunched over their sick bags. Luckily the airport was right next to the city so we only had to take short but boiling taxi ride to our hotel.

The hotel was nice enough, similar to our great hotel in Hanoi but without the fantastic customer service. We had a room without a window, so working out what time it was or getting out of bed was quiet hard. Luckily we had breakfast included to force us up every morning.

We spent 3 days in Ho Chi but we didn't see everything. After the disapointment of Dalat we needed some lazy us time. We also used the time to plan out Thailand as we will be there through Christmas and New Year.

When we did venture out in the 30 degree heat we went to see the French architecture of the opera house and the Cathedral. The buildings were beautiful in a city of modern buildings, but they wouldn't look that amazing in Europe. We actually enjoyed the evenings more sitting in a bar people watching with a beer, yes even Nicole had a beer though she didn't enjoy it that much.