Ho Chi Madness

Well... night three on the bus, while not as hellish as night one, tunred out to be no fun at all. If you are ever traveling through Vietnam DO NOT book with camel travel as we found the other companies to be FAR superior. Also, refuse to sleep in the back of the bus as we can assure you that you won't actually sleep. For our last night on the bus which took us from Nha Trang to Saigon we got stuck in the back and it was unbelievable bumpy! I finally manged to fall asleep after three and was awoken at dawn, so it was two nights in a row with just a couple hours of uncomfortable sleep. Needless to say, I slept VERY well last night! Despite having been told by many that Saigon was just to chaotic, we have found it to be a really enjoyable (but defititely hectic city). Like in Hanoi, the traffic is CRAZY and the same principle of walking slowly through the sea of motos applies and by now we are pretty adept. Although I often fear that someone is going to run over my toes, no one has hit us and we still haven't seen a collision. After finding a descent cheap hotel and taking a much needed hour or so nap, Dave and I set off on a walking tour of the city. We started at the fine art museum, which had an impressive collection of contemporary and ancient art, and then went to the Ben Tranh market. Amongst the knock off bags and other useless knick nacks we found AMAZING and oh so cheap food. After walking past the reunification palace we took a sobering tour of the War Remnants Museum. It was an incredibly intense and very graphic experience as an American citizen and I literrally had to fight back tears at times. The main display was on the war crimes perpretated by the US during the war and even included preserved fetuses shockingly mutated by the dioxin in agent orange. There was also a requiem for the war featuring photos of correspondents who had lost their lives many showcasing the last photo they took. Feeling shaken and exausted from two nights of travel we decided to call it a day although we did get to try the viet version of Mc D's (called Lotteria) on the walk back!

Today we went on a big tour of the Cu Chi tunnels that were used by the Viet Cong during the here so called American War. It was a baffling experience and really made you realize just how ridiculous it was of our governement to believe that we could have defeated these people in their own country when they had already perfected their art of guerrilla warfare to get rid of the french just years before. The most horrifying part were the multitude of traps hidden in the jungle floor to spear unsuspecting soldiers. With encouragement, Dave managed to overcome his fear of small spaces and even crwaled through one of the tunnells with me which was fun. We got back to Ho Chi Minh City around 3, starving and headed straight back to the Ben Tranh market for some tasty Bun Ga (vermicelli w/ chicken). We had a terrifc evening which really made us big fans of this city. After a long walk in the colonial down town quarter we found a great local spot for dinner where they pulled out stools and a table for us to sit outside and enjoy two of the only three things they served. It was simple chicken and beef on rice, but OH SO GOOD and only costed us $4 with drinks. They smiled and thanked us as we left and we headed back to the market to bargain for t-shirts (2 for $3). We were then delighted to stumble upon group exercise in the park! There was a big group of people all doing coordinated dancing to american oldies like summertime blues! They were twisting up a storm and totally excited to have us Americans in their midst which they thought was hilarious. Dave even broke down to do some twisting and hopefully we can post the video I got some time soon! Now we are back at our guesthouse but are about the head out for a drink. Tomorrow we go into the delta and will be taking a boat directly from there to Phnom Penh on Saturday. Not sure when we will be able to write but please don't let that stop you from writing us! Besos!
Jess