Last day in Saigon!

Hello all,
How is everything in Melbourne?
Saigon is a wintery 30 degrees at the moment and we are running ourselves into the ground AGAIN trying to see everything we can in the four days we are here.

On Wednesday we took a group tour out to the Mekong Delta, the biggest river in Vietnam. It started off interesting to say the least, as Craig & I were last on the bus so got stuck with the infamous back seats. So not like in Melbourne, where the cool kids sit in the back seat. No, in Vietnam, the back seat is for those that don't value their lives very much! No seat belt, plus crazy crazy roads means hanging on for dear life and I was feeling very unwell to say the least by the time we reached the Mekong.

Once there, we jumped onto a big boat to begin our journey crossing the Mekong. It is a pretty cool river, massive in width and with heaps of inlets and canals that lead out to these jungle islands. We stopped on the first island to go to this honey farm where we tried some honey tea and peanut brittle. Then, we did probably the most disgusting thing we have done since we came to Vietnam. You see, we were on a trip with all these hardcore backpackers who had been trekking through Laos and Cambodia, and Craig and I looked pretty weak in comparison. So, when the guide brings out this whisky that is supposed to have medicinal qualities because it has a dead snake and a dead bird in it, and everyone starts doing shots of it... well, we gave in. To tell the truth, it tasted just like normal whisky but it was probably the grossest thing we have done! So far though, we have not had any weird side effects.

We then trekked through the jungle to another boat, this time a tiny little row boat with only four people in. By then I had acquired for myself one of the awesome Vietnamese cone hats and was looking quite touristy! This boat was rowed by this tiny little Vietnamese lady with barely any teeth. She was gorgeous. She kept looking back at me and grinning. The ladies love me here because I am so white- I am jealous of them as they are so tanned. Apparently in Vietnamese culture, the whiter you are, the luckier you are. So I reckon I must be pretty lucky! The boat trip was pretty cool, winding down all these little canals with some serious jungle on either side. Like everything in Vietnam though, it really was a case of organized chaos as there were about a million other boats doing the same thing.
We then were transferred onto a medium sized boat- not via a platform or anything, just by jumping from the canoe into the other boat. This boat took us to yet another island where we this time saw how they make coconut candy. These are little caramals made out of coconut and they are yum yum yum. Not the most interesting process to watch though. We then jumped back into the medium boat and went to this jungle village for lunch. Now the traditional Vietnamese lunch was hardly the kind of fare we were used to eating in our extravagant food ventures. We got some rice, a piece of grisly pork and some fried vegetables. Needless to say it wasn't the best meal I have eaten in Vietnam! Nice atmosphere though. We were then told we could 'relax in hammocks' or 'ride bikes around the villages'. There were approximately 3 hammocks for the tour group of 50... and the bikes were pretty close to falling apart. So Craig and I instead walked around the village but there wasn't that much to see.

After an hour, we were told to head back to the boats. As I said earlier, there were a few groups of backpackers on the trip with us and one particular threesome consisted of one Canadian, one Italian and one Dutchman. The Dutchman was this big, black boy with dreadies- very hard to lose. But that it what happened, somehow on the island, his friends managed to lose him! So we get back to the boat at 3.15, about 50 of us waiting for this guy to be found! It was over an hour before they found him. Turned out he had taken a wrong turn on his bike, ended up on the other side of the island and had to get a guesthouse to drive him back. It was all very funny... he was very embarrassed!

After that we took the medium sized boat back to the harbour where we jumped on the bus. Needless to say Craig and I were very careful to sit near the front of the bus this time where we felt much safer! All in all, it wasn't the greatest tour we have been on here but it did only cost 8 bucks each, so can't complain too much.

Last night we made the mistake of branching out from our Vietnamese eating patterns and going for Japanese. We figured with the amount of Japanese people there are here in Vietnam that it would be pretty safe, but we are regretful now. It cost us $28 for dinner and two drinks, which is a pretty bloody pricey meal here, and it was fairly terrible. Australia is much better! We have learnt our lesson though.

Today we were up bright and early once again for a trip out to the Cu Chi tunnels. For those of you that don't know, these are the tunnels used by the Viet Cong in the war- they lived and fought underground. I was a bit nervous about the tunnels but as it turned out the entire trip consists of anything but the tunnels and we only spent about 15 minutes there. We started off with yet another bus trip, this time with the craziest guide we have had yet! I swear to god he was drunk the whole time. Long story short, he was a Vietnam War Veteran who was very confused. You see, he fought for the South Vietnamese and the US (so against the Viet Cong) but he hates the US and loves the Viet Cong. It was all very confusing. One minute he was talking about fighting for the US, the next he was scaring the crap out of these poor American tourists by saying how bad their country is. It was a bit over the top. We arrived at the tunnels after about 1.5 hrs of listening to him preach, and first we watched this ridiculous propaganda movie about how awesome the Viet Cong were and how terrible the Americans are. Don't get me wrong, I totally believe America was wrong and that they owe huge amounts to the Vietnamese people for what they have done and the lasting effects here, but this movie was very preachy.

We then saw a series of things such as tiny little holes they hid in and jumped out of (Craig attempted it, I didn't after this German woman got her bum stuck in it and had to be lifted out by three men!), then some horrific traps they used to kill the Americans, then some bomb craters, and then after about an hour we reached the start of the tunnels. But first there was an opportunity for food and drink and souvenirs, and to shoot some big guns! Craig did this- ten bullets from an AK 37 (don't quote me on that, it sounds right though). He was pretty excited, but the sound was SO loud that I ran away screaming like a girl as soon as it started.

We then got to the tunnels. There is about 100 metres of tunnels you can crawl through- they are about 6 metres underground and made of clay. We were going down the steps to get to the tunnels and I was standing with a British backpacker and we saw the size of the hole and bailed out of there. I literally would have had to be on my knees the whole time, and with my asthma playing up, seeing them was enough for me. Craig however, crawled the whole 100 metres- what a gun! He was sweatier than I have ever seen him when he came out though- they reckon it is about 100 degrees down there. He got some cool piccies of it though, so I did the Cu Chi tunnels vicariously through him.

After that it was all over ($4 well spent) and we had some preaching once again on the way home on the bus ride. Needless to say I wasn't really interested in tipping this guide!
After that we spent our afternoon braving the Ben Thanh market once again, where I added even more to my collection of sunnies, bought myself an awesome tshirt (it says 'Same Same but Different' on it, which is what ALL the Vietnamese people say at the markets, at restaurants- "You buy these glasses?" "Already got some" "No, no, same same but different!" or two restaurants next to each other, "Same same but different!" Awesome tshirt...) and some other little trinkets. We are always relieved to get out of that place with our wallets and camera's- it is pretty insane...

So now we are just about out of Vietnam. We have four nights on a tropical island, but I feel that this is our last hurrah in the craziness of Vietnam as it will be much quieter there. I have loved it so much here, I don't want to leave. I know Thailand is awaiting our presence but Vietnam has been everything we thought it would be and more- I love the way that anything can happen here!

We will be back!

I hope all is well in Melbourne and that everyone is getting their Christmas shopping down... At least you don't have to barter for your gifts ;) I am not sure how much internet access I will have in Phu Quoc Island so this might be my last post for a while, we will see.
I hope you are enjoying reading my essays, this has taken place of my travel diary so I am writing down everything I possibly can so I too can read it one day!
Love lots xx