What's Going On Mekong?: Saigon - So hot I saw one of those guys in the orange robes burst into flames!

OK, the title's perhaps an exaggeration, but someone had definitely turned up the thermostat here, and with a hundred motorbikes blasting by each minute, things were close in all senses of the word.

We shared a brief bus journey in the morning with an Australian/Vietnamese chap called William, who almost felt as out-of-place as we did. After finding some very reasonably-priced digs in the backpacker district, we ventured out to play chicken amongst the traffic - that being the the only way to cross the road. We quickly discovered that holding out for a break in the traffic flow would lead to death - from old age due to waiting!

Not much to report from the rest of the day, except that we stopped for Ice Cream to cool down:

You can see how happy it made us:

Over the next couple of days before Marsha and Nick arrived on the 23rd, we managed to squeeze in a trip to the hairdressers next door. A rendezvous with a hedge strimmer would have had a similar result! [Hazel's words!]

Also popped by the post office (lovely building) to send some stuff home (you can see the picture of Ho Chi Minh on the far wall):

Plus a trip to the Reunification Palace, whose gates were famously crushed by a North Vietnamese tank (see below) - a significant moment at the end of the Vietnam War.

For us, however, it was a bit too much like a 70's dining furniture showroom:

On Tuesday (23rd, the day Marsha and Nick were arriving) we went on a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels, only 20-odd kilometres from Saigon itself, and allegedly stretching all the way back (underground) to the Cambodian border. On the way we stopped off at a Handicrafts Centre run by disabled people, many of whom were affected by the Agent Orange (and other chemical defoliants) used by the Americans during the war.

The tunnels themselves had been built at various times prior to (and during) the American/Vietnamese war, with much of the work done by the Viet Minh (later known as the Viet Cong) who were fighting against the French earlier in the 20th Century.

Pete had a go getting into one of the hiding hole concealed entrances:

Not much room to manouvre - even on a svelte figure such as his! ;-) We were told the story of a lady who, a couple of years previously, had got herself stuck in the hole - so much so that they had to spend the next 6 hours digging a separate tunnel so that she could be freed! A lady in our group did not take heed of the warning and got herself stuck, thankfully for her her ordeal lasted only a few minutes (and a bruised hip and ego!)

We got to climb down into the tunnels themselves. There are 3 categories of tunnel: small, tiny, and miniscule. Here's Hazel in one of the larger tunnels:

You can imagine how the Vietnamese fared better down here than the American soldiers, having both a smaller frame and also knowledge of the many miles of routes and traps along the way.

Here's a shot of one of the traps that were laid on the forest floor (ouch!):

Hazel also got to hang out with some of the Women Viet Cong (OK, so they were only dummies):

Fight the Power, Sisters!

When we got back to Saigon after lunch we stopped by the War Remnants Museum, illustrating all the bad (horrendous) things the Americans got up to during the American/Vietnam War, and all those across the World who protested against their involvement.