Miss Siagon

Next stop Siagon/Ho Chi  Minh. 

There was a small hurdle before we even got there....our first flight with Jetstar Pacific (and our last I hope) as they decided that the rules regarding baggage weight were not actually made for breaking.  With our bags still sitting cumulatively 7kg overweight (ok so its mostly mine but it sounds better if its split between us!!) and the check in person keen to charge per kilo we were in bother.  The usual tactic of wearing as many clothes as you can just wasn’t possible as you would have died from the heat.  Then a lovely English lady standing beside us said that her bag only weighed 12kg and would we like her to carry some stuff...she even apologised for over hearing our problems – I nearly bit her hand off!!! So with 7kg of my bag in the ladies bag we were finally en route to Siagon – a small hurdle overcome phew!!  Thank you English lady whoever you are!!!

Siagon is much more Westernized with high rise buildings, lots of office blocks and many multinational companies having a base here.  There are proper shops and shopping centres and not just street stalls.  In some situations you could have been in any busy city although there is still the poverty and crazy driving to remind you of what country you really are in.  A large difference on the roads is that they actually adhere to the traffic light system in most circumstances, although zebra crossings are still completely meaningless!

Stories of the war are a huge part of this city and in the middle of one of the main squares there is pictures and stories of how people have been affected. 

On our first day we headed out to the Cu Chi Tunnels – this is an underground world basically where the Vietnamese soldiers and their families hid and lived.  It took 20 years to build the tunnel network and it covers 250km around the country, stretching across to Cambodia.  The tunnels were so small that the majority of Americans could not fit into them.  We were shown one of the original entrances to the tunnels and our Vietnamese guide fitted into with his hands above his head – my size 8 trainer covered the width of the entrance...totally mental! For the purposes of giving tourists and westerners an appreciation of the size inside the tunnels they have made a wider entrance and escort the tour groups through a stretch of tunnel  either 20, 30 or 50m.  I decided to be brave and went for the 50m...omg it is tiny we were going along either on hands and knees or on our honkers – given the size of my hockey thighs I thought I would opt for honkers- flip me give my 100 squats anyday lol!! I could barely go downstairs afterwards.  But it was fascinating to see the size, width and especially heat in those tunnels – also it was totally pitch black which sounds obvious when you say it but before you enter you just don’t think of that – well i didn’t anyway!! Quite a scary and slightly claustrophic experience but I am glad that I did it.  See some pics below.

A bamboo trap - underneath is lots of spikes so the enemy would fall in and die!

The Vietnamese entrance!!

My trainer covering the entrance - giving a bit of perspective on the size!

James on his knees in the tunnel - it was totally dark except for the flash!

Me on way out of the tunnel!

At the site that they have opened to tourists at the tunnels they have set up a shooting range with real guns that were used in the war – the noise of them was deafening.  But I shot 3 bullets out of a M1 Garand gun – see pictures below.  Quite scary and they are very heavy!!  Hopefully I will not need to shoot a gun anytime soon because I was pretty pants at it!

More natural than me!!

I didnt even know how to stand!!

Posing instead!!

Very serious - no posing!!

This day really was a history orientated day because in the afternoon we went to the War Remnants Museum.  I have to say (from someone who really hated history at school and really in general) it was very interesting.  It is easier to relate to the stories when you can see some evidence of it etc rather than sitting at a desk and teachers firing all these dates at you!! We saw lots of tanks and planes/helicopters used during the war and they had recreated some of the cells that prisoners of war were kept in and tortured in etc.  Some of the stories are horrendous and very harrowing and some of the pictures made me feel a bit nauseous but James says it was a bit one sided – refer to his blog I am sure he will go on about it a bit!  The citizens of Vietnam are still suffering the after effects of the war because the Americans sprayed a defoliant called Agent Orange in vast quantities across the country and it has caused horrific birth defects and illness in people who were exposed to it and have passed it down through the new generation.  It really is very sad and there is nothing they can do about it.

Anyway the next day we spent wandering through the city and sightseeing.  We visited the Post office, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Reunification Palace, the Opera House and almost the best of all we visited New York Desert Cafe – YUM!! It’s a bit like every city in that they have a coffee house on every street corner only in HCMH its called ‘Highland Coffee’ rather than Starbucks!

Siagon is a cool city we enjoyed seeing everything, the people are really friendly and its nice to visit the odd shopping centre – even just to benefit from their air conditioning or wc facilities – a luxury not found in Hanoi anywhere. Here our some fun pics from our few days :

A trip on a cyclo

Cut in a thunder storm - VERY heavy rain!

Sampling some coconut juice!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Yay for the Jess clan!!

Trying the Vietnamese trade!

This is way way heavier than it looks!!

On the last afternoon I really splashed out and treated myself to a full body massage for 1hour for £3.50!!!!!!! It was unreal – James says he is going to send me every day as I came back so chilled out and relaxed!! (He stayed in the pub for a burger and a pint!!) Ah it was so so good!!

We also finally managed to find somewhere to do our laundry so we left them 4kilo of laundry and got it back 24 hours later with pants and boxers ironed and it cost us £2 – amazing!!

We are heading on a 4 hour bus trip to another beach resort called Mui Ne where we will stay for 4 nights.  It has been really interesting learning and understanding more about Siagon but I am excited to get back to the beach and chill out for a bit.  There is not that long left now in the Asian part of our adventure – here is the schedule of our final few days (a little bit varied from the original itinerary from those who were using it!!)

Thurs – Mon22nd :          Mui Ne beach resort

Mon :                                    4 hour bus from Mui Ne back to Siagon

Tues – Wed:                       Travel from Siagon to Chau Doc, Wed morning boat to Phnom Phen (Cambodia).

Wed – Fri:                           Phnom Phen

Fri:                                          6 hour bus to Siam Reap

Fri – Mon                             Siam Reap – Ankor Watt

Mon:                                     6 hour bus to Phnom Phen, 5pm flight to Bangkok

Mon – Tues:                       Bangkok 1 night

Tues pm                               9pm international flight to Christchurch!

So we better make the most of the short time left in Asia.  Hope everything is going well at home,  I think today is Alevel results day so good luck to all those who that affects!  Hope work, hockey, life etc is going well for everyone – send me some emails people J  Hope you find the blogs interesting and not too boring – I am quite enjoying doing them, James says its because I like talking and this means I get to talk more haha!! Miss you all, Lots of love x