Day 03 (the boys hgave landed) - Ho Chi Minh city

I doubt we'll be able to upload photos as we go due to sheer volume (especially Lukas! ;), and upload speeds are terrible, so that will have to wait until the end I'm affraid. I the meantime I’ll intersperse descriptions with links to photos others have taken to give a visual impression should you wish to explore.

Although Lukas (through some technical wizardry) has managed to resize a few that you can view here on his Czech blog he is keeping.

Well, I made it, and this time, so did Lukas!
I met up with Lukas & Peter ahead of schedule in Qatar airport, and got our connecting flight to Vietnam without a hitch! Horah! :)

The airline didn’t do anything special for the new years being spent on a plane, but it was quiet! I mean Heathrow was pretty busy as always, but the flight I got to Qatar was only about 20% full, meaning everyone had their own space, to kick back ands relax in. It was a nice modern plane with on demand video, really nice staff, and decent meals. Qatar airport was a bit mad; completely disorganised, but we got through it okay, and onto the final flight. Last plane wasn’t as flash, but still it was bearable as this flight was maybe 50% full, meaning there was space to spread out a little. I recommend flying on new years!

So we land, get a cab to our hotel in the center, eat, drink a lot, and then crashed out for 12 hours. The following afternoon we started to explore the city. It’s kind of S.E.Asia crazy, with 10 million motorbikes/mopeds on the roads in Ho-Chi-Minh city alone, and only a handful of cars and busses. Crossing the street at first seems like a life threatening procedure, but you soon get used to it, everyone is very aware of everything going on around them, and because of the severe congestion they can only go so fast (flickr pics). The horn is used as a form of communication, you can’t be near a street without hearing one go off every few seconds. The shops are all coated in neon (flickr pics), the power lines are all overhead and there are many thousands of cables at each junction. All just as you’d imagine it really.

Lukas and I also shaved out heads, down to a couple of millimeters (at the time we could only find a posh lady hairdresser to do it in, which the owner found very amusing), is nice in the mid-20’s heat here. Peter had hair like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction before he came (apparently), but his girlfriend kindly removed the lot before he set off :)

After we finally got up yesterday, we walked clear across the south-east districts to the financial area, and then took a boat ride over the river and up a canal, you find the more shanty town like dwellings. It’s interesting to see such a contrast of living conditions just across the water.

We’ve found some great places to eat (and a few crap ones, as you do). Today we went on a bus tour to the Vietcong tunnels – a kind of prefab theme park to demonstrate the tunnel systems dug during the war to combat & confuse the Americans, and protect themselves from the carpet bombing of the region that took place. Was interesting to hear the story from out guide – someone who was actually in the war - and to experience for a brief moment of time what these soldiers experienced for weeks on end (flickr pics). It s all pretty tacky in that touristy-way, but worth the experience. Then we explored more of the city this afternoon, followed by a few more beers, and after writing this we’re off for a meal, then to bed early.

Tomorrow morning we leave the city, and have booked ourselves into a beach resort further up the coast called Phan Theit (below), where we intend to relax for a few days (the jet lag, has really taken it out of us… well me) and enjoy some beach activities before continuing north to start the real adventuring.

All, in all, we’re having a fantastic time, the people are all really friendly, the food is good, everything is silly cheap, and we’re full of anticipation of wear our adventure will take us next.

P.S. Lukas covered our guide book with soy sauce, in a series of butter finger moments earlier, I’m being bombarded by ants as I type.

MORE TO FOLLOW SOON!

Our next destination, Phan Thiet: