Saigon

29/09/11
Today started off with a long coach trip to Saigon, at one point we had to take a ferry to cross the Mekong Delta. Just went we were over half way across a sudden rain storm hit the ferry drenching most of us on broad. By the time I got my plastic poncho on I was already soaked through. By mid-afternoon we arrived in Saigon, the R&R capital the Americans used during the Vietnam War. This is the first really modern city we have been to on our trip so far excluding Bangkok. As the rest of the group go off to explore I have an important task to carry out first, I need to get a tourist visa sort out for Thailand as I will be staying over the 15 day exclusion period you are given when entering over land. On arriving at the embassy things are find until they ask for evidence of a onwards flight, stupidly I have left my flight details back at the hotel so I make a mad dash back to get them before the cut off time to get visas in 24 hours! That evening we have dinner at a restaurant on the street; there we order beef which you cook yourself on a roof tile which is suspended over hot coals. We go for a few drinks that night to say farewell to the people who are leaving us as the next leg of our trip kicks off.

30/09/11
Today is a day which is going to focus on the ‘Vietnam’ war, or as the state here calls it the Indochina war. In the morning we visit the Chu Chi tunnels, a series of narrow tunnels dug by the Viet Cong near Saigon to act as a base against the Americans who were stationed only a short distance away. At one point we have a chance to go through a section of the tunnels ourselves. After what seems like ages, crawling hunched over in such a narrow space we eventually get to the end of the tunnel to discover we have travel over 100m underground. It is at this point that I discover that the 2 week old brand new camera I have been using has developed a lense error – gutted!

In the afternoon a small group of us go to visit the War Remnants museum back in Saigon. As well as exhibiting American war machines the museum also has several exhibits on war crimes committed by American and South Vietnamese forces. What must be remembered when visiting is that Vietnam is a communist state so the museum does present a biased view of what happen during the conflict but several photographs and especially the effects of Agent Orange (a chemical substance used by the Americans) which are still felt today cannot be argued against. The only problem is there is no mention of what acts the North Vietnamese committed to give a balance opinion of what happened in the whole conflict. Never less it is still worth to see what people over here are taught. Afterwards I pick my passport from the Thai embassy which is only a few blocks away; when we get back to the hotel I discover I have lost my Vietnam departure card from my passport!
After all the things that have gone wrong over the last two days I am almost glad to leave Saigon behind as we catch our overnight train heading for Nha Trang.

01/10/11
Well the train journey went better than I expected especially after my previous experience of one in Russia. The train was clean with air conditioning so it was actually quite a pleasant overnight trip; I also managed to get some sleep. In the morning we had arrived in Nha Trang a growing coastal holiday resort. Today we hit the beach as we travelled a little way out of town to escape away from other tourists to a huge stretch of sand used mainly by locals. We had paid a one off fee for an all-day spot at a place on the beach which had a free bar and an all-day BBQ. The place was stunning; everything had come together luckily for us. The weather, view, sea, beach, food and drink were all amazing; it was like we had arrived in paradise. I spent a happy few hours de-stressing and learning I’m rubbish at beach sports, at one point while playing with a volley ball I managed to launch it straight into my face!