The 7 hour train journey to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) went quite quickly, our seats were quite comfortable and were even given aeroplane-style food for dinner. They played a really weird movie about Kung Fu and football, which must have been sponsored by Puma, for all of their sportswear on show throughout. After, they played some really bad music, particularly of kids singing. I decided it was time for my iPod and a bit of Andrew WK to drown out the noise, which sorted that out. The train arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at about 7pm and we headed to the backpacker district. Our guest house was okay, it had hot water and a fan, which was all we needed. Feeling really tired we decided to order a pizza for delivery! Chelsea were on the TV, so we watched them luckily beat Portsmouth.

The next day, we headed to the National Palace to learn some more about the American War (as the Vietnamese call it) and look around the Palace itself. The site was prominent in the success of the north Vietnamese defeating the southern coalition, which saw tanks break through the gates on 30th April 1975 to end the war.

That evening Liverpool were playing, so we went to a bar, had some drinks and watched the game. I got chatting to a Dutch girl named Mariet, who accompanied us the next day to the Cu Chi tunnels, the residence of the Viet Cong for much of the war. They showed us the entrance to one of the tunnels and said anyone below waist size 34 could try and get in. Vic and I both had a go but the guide told one woman she wasn't allowed too because she was too big! He said it in such a matter of fact way too!

We ventured onwards to see some of the old US tanks and were given the opportunity to move through one of the old tunnels, although with hunched backs, since they were only about one metre high. Some parts of the 90 metre long tunnel reduce in height before returning to normal a few metres later. This was to prevent the US soldeirs infiltrating the tunnels due to their larger size. At this point, you have to crawl through and the heat is really beginning to take effect. Since I was leading the charge of our group of 20 or so, I didn't realise that Vic and I were the only ones still in the tunnel. The others had left at the 30 or 60 metre escape points, so I was surprised to see the whole group waiting when I exited, sweating profusely!

At the end of the tour, you have the opportunity to shoot some guns on the shooting range, and the rumour is that you also have the chance to blow up a cow with a grenage or rocket launcher if you have a spare $200. Not exactly my kind of fun to be honest.

After the tour, the bus dropped us off at the war museum, which showed pictures of those affected by the war. Looking at the pictures and the atrocities was really sad, some of the people were killed in horrendous ways, something I would later think back to when learning about the Killing Fields of Cambodia. The museum also had artefacts such as the guilletoine (used on Prisoners of War), jail cells, and captured US army tanks and planes.

That evening, we met the girls in a bar and shared a few drinks before arranging to go to a waterpark the next day.

Vic, Lizzie, Dani and I went to the waterpark, which was loads of fun. They even had a bangarang! (ref: Benicassim waterpark, 2006). I was able to take my waterproof camera and took loads of good photos, but all the photos were later wiped in the notorious memory card incident of Siem Reap. Suffice to say, we had a brilliant time on all the rides.