impressedme do you have a photo of the snake wine please ? thank you.

Brian Mc Cabe Well done again Murdo. Very good analysis, which I would generally share. I think we were lucky in when we were there i.e that they had not yet re-admitted Chinese tourists. You will recall Cheung ('Jimmy') telling us that if we had been there before Covid, the places would have been full of Chinese tourists. Also about the lobbying which was going on to try to persuade their Government to legalise gambling - and everything which would go with that. I was struck by their antagonism towards the Chinese, but that is probably understandable, given their history. A friend of mine, who had been out there before me, said that he had been very impressed by their resilience and independence - but then, as he said, they were probably the only country in the world who had defeated three of the members of the UN Security Council i.e the French, the Americans and the Chinese!

Gil And I remember Nicky coming back from Vietnam with Durien sweets which he passed off on his nephews.

Gil THis was great, Murdo. Thanks for sharing. It brought back lots of memories.

MURDO Thanks for all your kind comments. Much appreciated

Pat o Leary Great blog Murdo. You really captured the holiday. Till we meet again. From Pat and Angela. Thank you

Norman M Really excellent blog and photos. Makes me want to visit this fascinating country even more. thanks for putting this all together.

Trish Great Murdo I love having this as a recap of the trip. We saw so much and went to so many places it’s brilliant to have this blog as a reminder. Thank you xxx

PJ Claffey Well done Murdo. A great recap of our trip and reminds me of all we saw.

Gillian Mayes Glad you got to the War Museum! Gil.

PJ Claffey Brian Many thanks for such a clear consise article. At least you got the names of all the places we went to. They are all a blur in my head. Best wishes PJ

Brian Mc Cabe Great photos Murdo, and an excellent (and very accurate) blog. Would very much share your analysis of the trip and agree that a trip to the War Museum is a 'must' for anyone visiting HCMC - or at least for those of our generation who grew up with the Vietnam War as a background sound (and vision) track to our evenings. There is, of course, so much more to the history of this fascinating country and this trip - very carefully put together by the Travel Department - covers the vast sweep of Vietnamese history.