Miss Saigon? Probably...

Well here we are on our last day in Vietnam. Saigon - or should we say Ho Chi Minh City is a bit mental, but great. There's certainly more atmosphere than we felt in Hanoi, but maybe that's because we are more acclimatised. One noticeable difference is the temperature. At time of writing it's 35 degrees (and it's 21.30pm)...we are stewing a bit, at least I am. We have learnt so much during our time here...but also so little! Yesterday we were royally ripped off my a pair of cyclo drivers. Stupidly, we hadn't negotiated a price before the journey started. All they did was drop us off at the post office (where we spent 40 minutes) and then drop us at Reunification Palace. They then tried to charge us 300,000 VND for what was esentially 20 minutes cycling. That, Bison is ten quid. I think that's more than the monthly wage, but they got very irate when we argued the toss. We know how much things cost by now but it was a bit like being attacked my the mendhi-brandishing gypsies in Pushkar, India...your only hope is to throw some money in their general direction...so we gave them 200,000 VND and legged it. It may not sound like much but is in fact 1/6 of our total daily budget!!

Moving swiftly on, Reunification Palace was crap. Not really sure of the significance of it, as we'd just posted our Lonely Planet back home...on a ship, like so many of our other packages we are destined to never see agian. Then we braved the roads and took another death-defying trip on the back of a motorbike. Speaking of which, Andy and I had a very minor RTA a couple of weeks ago. We didn't want to worry you all, so we kept it quiet until his injury had healed. Basically, it involved us taking a 'better' road back from Marble Mountain...what they forgot to mention was that the road wasn't finished. Several km down it, we ended up in a sandpit and basically were forced from the sandpit at a pathetically slow speed, into a small wall. It was very undramatic, but Andy sustained a nasty scrape to his leg. He was very brave though, and a very kind local lady dressed said wound with Betadine and bandage. It drew quite a crowd of observers and soon we were on our way again. So he hasn't sustained some terrible infection, which was my concern and if anyone asks, he's saying it was a shark bite. I was completely unscathed :)

So we had a cheery day today - first of all we visited the Cu Chi tunnels. It's a network of underground tunnels stretching 250km on three levels, the deepest being 10m deep. This was where the Viet Cong (VC) hid for 26 years in order to outwit the Americans during the war. Bear in mind, they had only a hand trowel to construct the tunnels from the hard clay-based earth. It was a great tour, our tour guide had himself served in the Saigon army and despite the size of him, looked very tough. The squeezing though the tunnels part of the trip was rather scarey - we kept wondering why every now and then people would resurface from the hole they descended - we soon realised. It was dark (obviously), it was hot, and if you suffer from claustrophobia, this isn't the trip for you (we didn't make it to the end of the 50m tourist section). Though all passageways were very narrow and low (necessitating being on hands and knees), some of the entry and exit holes were so narrow, the VC had to dislocate their shoulders before entering.

The whole Cu Chi area was once a peaceful place to live with fertile land bearing many fruit trees. They have eventually re-grown, but for years the whole area (and those for many miles beyond) was defoliated with Agent Orange, dropped from the fighter planes. Not only did this enable the Americans to have a clear view of combitants and civilians alike, it also had devastating effects for years to come. This mainly took the form of severe birth defects and carcinomas, so it's legacy lives on today.

It really is no wonder the Vietnamese won. The tunnel network provided them with areas for living, cooking, fighting and there was even a hospital down there...just like MAsU it was (but with more equipment). They devised a system whereby cooking smoke exited at a certain distance from the tunnels. Then there were the booby traps. These things basically took the form of trapdoors concealing many bamboo and metal spikes...nasty. Such cunning and will to survive under such harsh conditions was fascinating to learn.

And then, the highlight of the day as Andy volunteered to fire an AK-47. This aroused much excitement amongst the male members of the tour - you could hardly breathe for all the testosterone swarming about. I just don't understand boys! This is where they make their money - each shell cost 18,000 VND (about 50p). So armed with 10 shells, off went Andy, wearing his combat gear (i.e. his gay blue shorts), brandishing his new toy. The noise was terrifying and sadly he didn't manage to hit the target (this fact will be disputed, but he didn't win either a goldfish or a coconut).

We then went to the War Remnants museum, which really illustrates the horrors of the war with shocking clarity. It really gave us the full impact of the atrocities against civilians - mainly women and children, leaving nothing to the imagination. The photography was amazing, but very brutal and came courtesy of war photographers and journalists, many of whom were eventually killed.

The torture methods of the Americans were depicted in great detail and featured horrors such as water torture, nails being driven into fingertips and slow but meticulous limb amputation. Prisoners were shackled at all times and held in the notorious "Tiger Cages," characterized by a walkway running along the top of the cells, allowing the guard full observation of those incarcerated (as experienced by Papillon during his time in solitary confinement). Torture aside, the conditions themselves were horrendous. Prisoners were only allowed half a cup of water per day and if they weren't killed by torture or disease, they were permanently disabled through repeatedly broken limbs or severe muscle wasting.

What a day. Well and truly ready for a distraction, we scuttled off for a beer. Unfortunately, I have finally succumbed and bought some Thai fishing trousers! I'm sorry, but they are just so comfortable!!!!! I also have some lovely coconut beads, but I promise to stop before the dreadlocking process begins... and can you all please stop putting rancid photos of me up on CCU's screensaver? And please could Andy stop taking them? Thanks!

Next destination, Cambodia...

Photo of Andy and Ak-47 action to follow...