Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

I much prefer Saigon as the city name (no disrespect to Ho Chi Minh intended) and this is our last stop in Vietnam. After some mildly "meh" beach breaks it feels good to be back in the city. We arrive in a cracking storm in the evening. I love 'em, I could sit for hours watching the skies for piercing forks of light and feeling the ground-trembling rumbles of thunder. Off the bus it's wet, but we don't have far to go to the hotel (Hoang Kahn - $15 per night / triple room) which has already been sorted for us by Emily who came the previous day.

I took a tour out to to the Cu Chi tunnels, about 1 hour out of Saigon. These 121km of tunnels were used for defensive and offensive purposes as well as supply routes, and living. The Americans couldn't penetrate with ground force (there were booby-traps everywhere!) or ponding the area with bombs dropped from B-52's bombs. On entering you're given a sticker and shown a quick anti-American video from that time, then a demonstration of some of the gruesome traps, then our guide shows us the holes and entrances they used, inviting us to have a go. However, a girl got stuck and it took a while, and four people, to pull her out, so we didn't get a go.

Now you see him...

Me and about 4 others did all three tunnels, getting progressively smaller until you're pretty much crawling on hands and knees. There are exits at the end of each tunnel should you wish to bail out. How the VC spent all that time down there in that heat and darkness I'll never fathom! As soon as  I was out into the fresh air my body exploded with sweat. I don't think I've ever sweat that much in such a short space of time.

While all this is happening you can hear gunfire from the range. After the tunnels you're taken over there and shown the array of weapons that you can fire, for a meaty price. I've never done anything like this before, and never will again so stumped up 350,000 dong for 10 shots of an AK-47, the Russian made, Vietnamese weapon of choice. It's quite unnerving being led to the firing range; the guns are deafening. As I walk down I've not had a chance to pop on my ear defenders and the Australian chap before me is mid-way though his 10 shots on a monster M60. Anyone that knows a little about guns would know that this is the American daddy of hand-held weapons, its insanely loud thumps instantly gave me tinnitus. I quickly put on my ear protectors! The weapons are attached to the the rails which is almost a shame but understandable; what's to stop a tourist turning around and killing the first ten people in sight, or indeed breaking their shoulder with the savage recoil? I squeeze the trigger and fire my 10 rounds, at a distant target on a huge dirt mound; slow at first, then BAM BAM BAM BAM *click* (empty). I have no idea if it hit it (the target or the dirt mound!) but it was fun, and an adrenaline rush! I head back to the holding area, collecting a full metal jacket on the way, with a big smile on my mush :)

A to the muthafuckin' K home-boy, A to the muthafuckin' kayyyyyyyy

The bus dropped some of us at the war museum on the way back to Saigon, where I met up with Talitha and Emily. The museum has a particularly interesting war photography section on the top floor - you need to have balls of steel to be a wartime photographer. London born Larry Burrows is a particular favourite, he took some powerfully striking shots before the helicopter he was in was shot down over northern Laos (incidentally not far from where I'm writing this diary now). In the museum grounds there's a selection of American war machines (no Vietnamese though, oddly enough) and I'm instantly drawn to the Huey, where Talitha ops for the big black fire-spitting tank.

One day this shall be mine

Hoochie and the war machine

Every evening we're out on the street. There are people everywhere, perched on tiny plastic seats, spilling out onto the road. There's now a large group of us, collected from various parts of Vietnam (mostly Emily's Ha Long naked party cruise!). This is pretty much the evening theme for the next few days! Bia hoi is cheaper than water and flows like water. We don't move except to make space for more people or to shuffle under the canvas when the rains come or to go and see Emily do a couple of impromptu gigs in a nearby bar. Good times :)