Our flight with Lufthansa was brief, functional and relatively efficient - everything you'd expect from a German airline. We had anticipated the reception we'd get as soon as we cleared customs in Ho Chi Mink City (HCMC) and as we stopped before customs to use an ATM we could see the masses of people. We paused to decide where we would want to try staying and settled on the Hotel 127.

The Vietnamese currency, the dong, is an interesting one. The exchange rate at time of writing is about 26,000 to 1 and so when we withdrew about 40 pounds worth of dong, we were millionaires!

We hadn't got very far into the masses before we had some taxi offers. We accepted one and were whisked away into HCMC at a brisk and worrying rate. Although there are quite a few taxis in HCMC, the main form of transportation is the moped or motorbike, there were literally thousands upon thousands of them. Our taxi driver went round some, hooted madly at others and occasionally had to brake sharply at junctions. It was everyone for themselves out there. I just sat back and trusted the driver's abilities. I didn't quite trust him as he had covered his meter with a hat and probably overcharged us but we got to where we going. If he was expecting a tip, he was disappointed.

The Hotel 127 turned out to be the best random choice we've made so far in my opinion and I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a few stairs. We were ushered in and offered tea, water and bananas by the extremely polite and friendly people there. Our room is reasonably sized and has a television, a fridge, its own bathroom with hot water and, most importantly, air conditioning. We sttled right in and then went to find an internet cafe. When we returned we were offered a dinner consisting of a rather nice noodle soup and lots of spring rolls. It was rather nice even though it was quite simple. After that we headed up to our room to read for the rest of the night.

The following day we got up rather late, something that didn't go unnoticed by those downstairs. The great thing though was that their English was good enough to be able to joke confidently with us about getting up late. We left to go and see some of HCMC in the daylight and it took a while to be able to find where we were going from the map we had. Every few steps we were offered rides in cyclos by some very persistent men who have a great technique for snaring you. Some ask questions that you feel rude not answering thus drawing you into converstaion. Some offer you their hand to shake and it seems rude not to. Either way they try to get you into their cyclo. Most of the time they ask "Where you want to go?" or "Where are you going?" or "Where are you from?" as their first question. We managed to get away from all of them.

At one point on our walk we were walking past a building where some building work was going on inside and on the pavement outside. One of the men was sitting on the grass outside holding a rope attached to a pulley and he said hello while we were on our way past and offered me the rope. So I ended up hoisting the bucket up the building for him much to the amusement of them all before I handed the bucket back. It was one of those weird experiences that you can't really explain, you just had to be there.

We found the Reunification Palace shortly after that and went in to look around. We ended up with a guided tour of the palace and learned a bit about its history. Not much mind you, I was still a bit confused by Vietnam's history. At the end of the tour we were drenched from the heat and gladly sat down to watch a 30 minute video of the palace's history in a very cold room. The video didn't answer many of the fundamental questions about Vietnam's history but instead described the history that the palace had witnessed. I think that some fore-knowledge of Vietnam's history would have helped but we realised that we'd have to get that later. The video itself was troubling to watch at times and the US didn't really come out of it smelling of roses.

It was a lot cooler by the time we emerged from the palace and some dark clouds were looming. We dropped some of Claire's films in to be developed and only just made it off the streets before the heavens opened. Behind the photo shop was a mini shopping centre that we wandered around while we waited for the weather to clear a little. After a little wandering we had a little bit of lunch. Ok, it was 4pm and hardly lunchtime but I was starving by this point having not had anything to eat at all that day. I also took the opportunity to have some beer but I was horrified when they put ice in it. It's just not right! By this time the rain had stopped and we made our way back to our hotel. Now though, it was rush hour.

You could almost argue that HCMC doesn't have a rush hour as people on motorbikes are rushing around all day long. Between 5pm and 6pm though the roads are practically solid with motorbikes. It is almost beyond belief. They cruise along, their riders not bothering with helmets, wandering across the road as they wish. Undertaking and overtaking occurs and if there's a gap on the other side of the road, it's fair game. If the traffic is moving too slowly they use the pavements or they use the pavements if they want to go the wrong way up a one-way street. Sometimes they ride on the road the wrong up a street too. If Vietnam has a Highway code then it's safe to say that the code is more what you'd call guidelines than rules. At one point we were waiting for quite some time to cross the road and a man from the hotel across the road came out to help us by holding up the traffic. It was probably less embarassing than being run over by a moped but not by much. Crossing the road each time is difficult and takes planning. Each time we make it across without causing a pile up we have a little celebration.

That night we had noodle soup and spring rolls again and spent some time talking to a pleasant trio from Ireland and some of the women who ran the hotel.

We managed to wake up a little bit earlier the following day, early enough for breakfast. We then braved the traffic again to see some more of HCMC. We did some shopping and picked up Claire's photos before having a small but yummy lunch. In the photo shop I stood next to a Vietnamese photographer who was collecting some enlargements. Breathtaking was the best way to describe them.

After lunch we went to the War Remnants museum to try and find out more about what the Vietnamese war was all about. Initially we were confused still but we gradually worked out what was going on and continued to walk round the museum. Many of the photos in the museum were taken by American and western photographers and initially the whole thing seemed a little bit one sided. However, on closer examination there were photos taken by Vietnamese photographers too. By the time they were trying to close the museum at 5pm I was both appalled and shocked by what I had seen and learned. There were some things that I saw that I will never forget and in a way wish I had not seen. I can't say that I learned enough in one afternoon to point fingers and say that any side was in the wrong so I won't. That's not what it's really about anyway. The important thing is that I know a little more about a very significant historical event now and I just hope that the whole Iraq saga does not produce similar images and feelings in peoples' minds.

Having been turfed out of the museum we braved the rush hour traffic again to head back to our hotel. We picked up dinner from a handful of street stalls on the way back and visited an internet café again. We spent most of the rest of the evening watching some random rubbish on television and reading. I did also try a Saigon Export beer, it was nice but it may not make my top 5. We'll see.