Another long day today!! We went into Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) this morning, and headed to the big markets. We then had lunch in a little noodle bar we randomly found, and booked a trip on the Mekong River tomorrow, which we are all looking forward to.

The best part was our shopping expedition this afternoon - with some of the money we've raised through the swim event and performances, we've decided to hold a party at the orphanage on Thursday for the boys. They don't often get a chance to experience things like this, and we want to show them the Aussie way of doing it, while giving them a day to remember too.

We are going to cook pasta for all 150 people, get them to help make fairy bread and fruit salad (they don't know what it is!), play games, dance, and we have gifts for all of them, including their own toothbrush and tube of toothpaste.

So this afternoon, Naomi, Marg and I went shopping for it all . . . well, what an hilarious time we had! The guy from the supermarket was our assistant, we explained what we were doing and he was more than happy to help! We soon accumulated three giant trolleys full of food, including 7kgs pasta, a full case of milk, 10 tubs of margarine, chips for the boys (a rare treat), 20 litres of juice (another rare treat, and I'm told a favourite), and 120 toothbrushes and toothpaste packs, one for each of the boys. We also have some cling on koalas, tattoos and other toys that have been donated from people in Australia which we will also be using, including as prizes for musical bobs, statues and pass the parcel (new games for all!!)

Anyway, you should have seen the stares we were getting from the others in the shop, who were looking twice at the amount of food - I don't understand Vietnamese, but I think the general gist of what was being said was "crazy foreigners". An Aussie lady did ask, and when we explained it was all to feed 150 kids and friends at the orphanage, the reply was "thank God for that!!"

Within about 40 minutes, we spent 6 million dollars - thankfully though, it was Vietnamese dollars, and when translated into Australian worked out at around $350 dollars - awesome, since with that we can give 150 people a decent meal, drinks, toiletries, entertainment (we bought 4 soccer balls, as this is their favourite sport and we thought they may like to kick them around, we're also getting chess sets and board games to give them something else to do) and the time of their lives. It's amazing how little goes such a long way over here.

Tonight we went out for dinner, we've found a great little restaurant across the road from our hotel where we can get great meals (fried rice and beef) for around $2, and it has become our regular place.

When we got back, I started to head up to my room, when I was called back and informed that I had male visitors waiting for me - a couple of the big boys from the orphanage had come to visit - they'd sat in the lobby for two hours waiting around for us to get back so they could give a surprise! A great way to end the night!