welcome to vietnam- saigon!

Arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to crazy traffic! I though Phnom Penh was busy, but i was very wrong! Only 4 of us from my tour group were continuing on to Vietnam, the rest were going their seperate ways. So we had a night out at the Go2 Bar to say goodbye! Was very sad to see the others go. Checked out Ben Thanh Markets the next day, having lunch at a local stall. We met up with our new group & enthusiastic tour guide, Tan. He took us to a street stall for dinner and had a really fun meal- they gave us a plate of raw beef, to cook ourelves over a roof tile on hot coals! We then wrapped it in rice paper with noodles & salad- tasted amazing! The next day Tan walked us around the city to see the sights- Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Post Office... Visited the War Remnant musuem which was interesting, but had some horrific photographs of war victims. We had a very busy day after that. We went on a boat trip to the Mekong River, and had a walk around the village on the opposite bank. There are a lot of coconut planations and they use coconuts for everything- drinking, eating, making houses, making delicious candy, burning for coal... the list goes on! A local family gave us a huge table of ruit for morning tea. We then went on a motorbike trailer ride around the village. I love getting to see the real local areas, to see the people going about their daily lives. Another family cooked us a fabulous lunch- elephant ear fish rice paper rolls, banana flower, spring rolls, soup, fried rice, prawns, tea... was great! I held part of a beehive and touched the honeycomb to get fresh honey out- scary! As we rowed back to the big motor boat, it become to pour down, the heaviest I have seen yet. We then headed out to the Cu Chi tunnels, although our driver tried to take a short cut but got lost, so we were a bit pushed for time. We went down into one of the tiny tunnels which was fun. As we headed back into the city, traffic was even worse, if that is possoble. It was the Buddha's Birthday so everybody was either rushing home from work or heading out for vegetarian dinner. We boarded the overnight train with time to spare, heading for Nha Trang.