From Emma's earlier posting you will know the day got off to a very good start with a delicious breakfast.. The 4 of us ate for about 1 hour :-)

Sight seeing slightly delayed by the fact that when we went to book our train tickets for our next stop to Hoi An tomorrow evening , all the cabins with beds are fully booked ! Panic!
Spent next hour in business centre trying to book flights...cost wise only £80 difference for the 4 of us. (flying Vietnam's equivalent of Easyjet) Timewise only a 1 and 1/ 4 hour flight vs a 16 hour train journey! But downside is we now need an extra night's accomodation in Hoi An. Internet shows our chosen hotel is fully booked for the extra night in the rooms we want . The only room they have available is the 2 bedroom villa. Yes.. we have booked it... Leaving the train ticket booking so last minute has turned out to be an expensive decision. Hmmmm.

Once travel shinanigans sorted , our day didn't really begin till 11.30.
First a taxi ride to find a laundry! Google maps located one for us...$1 per kg

Got to our first planned visit of the day,
The Unification Palace to find it was closed for lunch! Reopens at 1pm.
It must be Friday 13th!

Grab taxi to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. Very small but interesting temple. Then lunch at Nha Hang Ngon (we enjoyed our dinner there so much last night, wanted to go back)

Post lunch second attempt at the Reunification Palace. Entrance fee only £1 per adult and 10p for children.
A striking modern architectural government building. The first communist tanks to arrive in Saigon rumbled here on the morning of 30
April 1975 and it's as if time has stood still since then. A guided 1 hour tour through the main rooms.
We found the basement map / military rooms the most fascinating.

Then straight to the War Remnants museum. US armoured vehicles , artillery pieces and bomb weapons are on display outside. Inside filled with moving photographs of soldiers involved in the vietnam war.

5pm ..Enough sightseeing...back to the Hotel for a swim. This only lasted 10 minutes as the heavens opened.

A quick freshen up, then dinner at Hong Hai, a seafood restaurant as recommended in tripadvisor . It was delicious, the biggest prawns ever! Inexpensive and full of locals!

Relaxing now before our heads hit the pillow. Kids writing their travel journals.
An early wake up call tomorrow.. Joining a tour at 8am to take us to the Cu Chi tunnels.

Px