• 

Neil writes – This for me is a boyhood dream come true. I have wanted to visit Vietnam for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was that year in geography that I studied Vietnam or, more likely, it was that my informative teenage years were blasted on the news by the Vietnam War. Whatever, today a boyhood dream came true after around 40 years.

I am so much more excited than I really expected to be, and it’s exactly as I envisaged it, manic, motorcycles everywhere, on the road, off the road, on the pavement and up your bum if you weren’t careful.

• 

Checked into our room at Luan Vu Guesthouse. No view, no window, but then there’s no noise, a bonus in this crazy city, and no mozzies either, so all in all, ‘tis all OK. It’s very clean and pleasantly presented not as “cell Like” as you might think.

We have lots of US$ which is welcome here but you also need local currency, the Dong. So, off we trotted to the ATM and Cheryl became a millionaire in seconds, 1MD and she’s on a roll, “give me more, more, I need more millions” she kept saying. That was until I reminded her that 1MD is worth around £40!! So now she said “I want 1 billllllionnnn Dong” in that crazed Dr Evil styleeeee! 

First evening wonderful and I am still wowed by this place but Cheryl is just a little overwhelmed by it all as she has never experienced such teaming masses and constant noise since the madness of Mumbai.

Second day was spent trying to get ourselves oriented and planning a couple of trips. It’s plain that to go to the places that we want to see it’s much easier to go by organised trips and, surprisingly, they are quite cheap……. bit like the beer here, 10000 Dong (£0.45) buys you 450ml of ice cold Saigon Beer.

We also seem to have mastered the art of crossing the roads, check for a small break in the traffic, look confident, ignore the fact the traffic never stops, walk at a constant speed and keep your eyes open for the maverick motor-cyclist. That’s it, easy! Maybe a change of underwear in your bag might be a good idea!

Also today we saw 2 guys on a motor bike, one driving and one pillion. The pillion guy was actually holding a pane of glass about 4ft x 3ft in heavy trafffic……barking!

We now also possess headphones and mic so that we can seriously use Skype if anyone wants to speak to us, you can get us at… cheryl..neil ….and remember we are 7hrs ahead.

Tuesday 13^th was the anniversary of taking that call in Mumbai when Donna told me that Steve had died suddenly. We did as last year, curry and beers and a large cigar. Thoughts last night were with Donna, Zoe and Matthew who were probably going through some dreadful emotions. I think Steve would have appreciated the evenings agenda, well, apart from the cigar.

Next day we went sightseeing around HCMC. First stop was the central post office, a magnificent building constructed in the late 1800’s. There is a huge picture of ‘Uncle Ho’ beaming down on the people as they buy their stamps. Cheryl continued her obsession with cash – now she’s a multi millionaire following another visit to the cash point.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Took a look around the Reunification Palace, the former seat of government, President’s home and now a museum. Built in the 1960’s it’s the building featured in all the TV & photos taken when the south was surrendered to the tanks of the Vietcong (VC) in 1975. Somehow Neil managed to get into most of the photos I took – see if you can spot him!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Next stop was the War Remnants Museum – full of harrowing pictures and artefacts from the war and the continuing aftermath as still more children continue to suffer birth defects from the effects of Agent Orange. A sobering place and a chilling reminder of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, under the banner of ‘war’.