Update from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We’ve now made it down to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) in South Vietnam.

We’ve had a minor motorbike accident - don’t worry, nothing too serious! Guess who was driving (clue: she has a history of motorbike accidents). We were tottering along in first gear, just getting to grips with the controls when someone pulled out across our path. Unfortunately, Emily had not yet located the brake pedal, we tried to go around the obstruction without slowing down and skidded on the sandy surface. Phil lost a chunk from the palm of his hand, and Emily has a prize bruise on her left thigh. Nice! Half of the locals were laughing and the other half didn’t even bat an eyelid; no-one showed any concern - it probably happens all the time…

Spending any length of time in Vietnam gives you a completely different perspective on the wars. The Vietnamese successfully repelled the French, the Americans and the Chinese in a 40 year period. The 58,000 Americans who died here pales next to the 3,000,000+ Vietnamese who died in “the American war”. It is hard to remain objective when confronted with pictures of babies deformed as a result of chemical weapons. And now all major transactions are conducted in US Dollars, the locals drink Pepsi and Coke, and everyone speaks at least a little English. Plenty of food for thought.

In spite of everything, the Vietnamese are very friendly - especially if you have some of those $$$s! Food is delicious, scenery is amazing, and everything is so cheap. We think it’ll take off as a major tourist destination in the next few years.

In other news: Since we last wrote we have had hand tailored suits made for US$25 each in Hoi An, ready for interviews and work in Sydney; tried scuba diving in Nha Trang; fired off some rounds from an M-16 assault rifle at the Cu-Chi tunnels; and tried snake wine (wine with a dead cobra in the bottle). We’re both still fit and (relatively) healthy!

Next we’re off to the Mekong Delta for a day, before heading onto Cambodia on Wednesday. First stop there will be Phnom Penh (the capital), and then we’ll head South down to the coast.

(2023 Update: Photos from Vietnam can be found here)