Tips and Tricks

Dear blog

Well we didn't make it out clubbing on Saturday night, old gits that we now are. We had a few beers and were in the mood but then we made a mistake going for a mexican. Well it wasn't so much a mistake, it was lovely, just that we were too full to drink let alone dance afterwards. So we phoned Lynn's Mum and also spoke to her brother and got to bed around midnight. Party animals!

Sunday August 5th
We had a day with absolutely nothing planned - magic! We had a relatively long lie and wandered down our street to book a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels for Monday. Cost was $4 each for a guide and bus ticket. More about Cu Chi shortly. We wandered down town and decided to venture down a narrow lane - where Vietnamese life really happens - people are cooking on the street, children play and you can see inside peoples small and cramped apartments. The reason they spend so much time on the street is because they don't have enough space to cook or play or chill inside their apartments. Families of five or six can live in 9 square metre flats.

Just as we started wandering down the heavens opened and we hadn't brought our cagoules with us! We bought two plastic ponchos from a local shop for only 5,000 dong! We wandered back on to the main street, turned a couple of corners and found a shopping mall with a cinema attached. As it was chucking it down we decided to go in and see Oceans 13 - although I wanted to see Die Hard 4, but as Lynn was coming out to watch the Charity Shield at night I thought I'd better go with the Pitt/Clooney option!

Thankfully it was miles better than Oceans 12, which was appalling. The patter was good, they obviously looked good, and although the ending was predictable it was a highly watchable movie.

We came out and the rain had stopped, as it tends to do here - rain for a couple of hours and then stop. We wandered back uptown towards our hotel and stopped to watch some guys playing football in the park with a bamboo ball - playing keepie uppie. Three girls approached Lynn and I and asked if I would play badminton with them. They were probably around 9 or 10. It was a 'money can't buy moment' as I played with two of them while the third attempted and failed to get Lynn to have a go of her hula hoop! It was a nice moment.

United beat Chelsea 3-0 on penalties after the match finished 1-1. We watched the game ina very narrow and busy bar, with seats at the bar and I ended up quite pissed. I got a few strange looks when I yelled abuse at Frank Lampard after he missed his penalty. Go on United!

Monday August 6th
We get up at 7.30am as our bus to Cu Chi tunnels leaves at 8.15am. I am a little rough on the bus but chat to a nice Canadian guy, an Italian guy and an Irish girl while Lynn attempts to sleep.

The tour was fantastic, very interesting. The Viet Cong used an intricate tunnel network of 256km in the Cu Chi area (an hours drive from Saigon) to live in, fight in and basically confuse the shit out of the Americans during the war. We watched a documentary when we arrived featuring some fantastic footage from the war. We then walked through the jungle and looked at traps that the Viet Cong lay for Americans, a hideout (that Lynn could fit in but I couldn't - check out some great photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayandlynn

We then went on to the shooting range where Lynn fired 5 bullets from an AK47 for $7. We bumped into Seth from the Easy Rider tour and he had spent a small Vietnamese fortune on all kinds of guns. I decided not to bother, guns are not for fun!

We carried on through the jungle to the entrance of two tunnels. We crawled through them both - it was quite an experience! They were dark, narrow and lit only at a couple of points (as they would have been during the war). You basically had to feel your way through and I bumped into the girl in front of me's backside a couple of times - unintentionally of course! No wonder American soldiers were scared to go into the tunnels!

We got back to Saigon at 2pm and had some lovely French baguettes before heading for a snooze. We wandered downtown at night for food and discovered a Thai restaurant called Silver Elephant that Lynn had read about. It was a little pricey but we decided to treat ourselves. The food was deeeeeeelicious. Thai food is a lot spicier and tastier than Vietnamese food. We shared scallops, sea bass and king prawns, washed down with a bottle of Chilean wine - Castillo De Mollina. The cost was 888,000 dom - nearly a million for a meal! Still it was well worth it and the service was out of this world. The waiters couldn't do enough for you and when I asked where the toilet was I thought one of them was going to come in with me!

Tuesday August 7th
Another day with nothing planned - just what we need before we start our 3 day/2 night tour in the Mekong Delta that ends in Cambodia. Wandered down to the market again and then found another cinema that had Die Hard 4 on. We went in and both really enjoyed it. It is cheesey and action packed - like all other Die Hard films.

We went back to the market for a late lunch and then back to the hotel for a siesta as we were both a bit tired. The sun had his hat on today, which was nice. Fingers crossed for the next few days!

Just going out for a bite to eat and then an early night as we will be up around 7am tomorrow. So I guess I will update the blog in Cambodia when we reach there on Friday.

Lots of love and lemonade
Murray and Lynn
xxx

PS check the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayandlynn

i get three hours free internet time if i include a link to the travel hub website so here it is www.travelhubchiangmai.com

ta
murray