Sunday/Monday

Have arrived in Vietnam. There's a huge Irish presence here - there's only two of us but we're huge in relation to the Vietnamese (the women in particular). Went for a walk yesterday after our arrival and soon learnt the rules of the road - there are none! They say there are 4 million motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh - we saw them all yesterday when we tried to cross the road. We met with our group and Phoong our leader and then went on a cyclo tour of the city - what an exercise in trust! Can't tell you much about the sights as it's hard to see anything when your eyes are tightly closed. I did more praying during the tour than I've done in the past 40 years! It's very difficult to make statements here - they all end up as exclamations. Enjoyed a lovely meal out with the group - 5 courses of Vietnamese food. Things are looking up - last night I slept with a millionaire - don't worry - so did Jim! We changed a 100 euro and got 2,900,000 dong. It will be hard to keep up this lifestyle with beer around 20,000 dong and wine around 30,000 dong.

Monday

Today we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels and the War Remnants Museum - a rather sobering experience. It was very interesting but also very depressing - to think that all of this happened in our lifetime and is still going on in places. Phoong thinks we need to regroup with a beer before we go to eat again. We also went to a lacquer factory where handicapped people produce exceptionally high quality artwork using duck eggshells, mother of pearl, painting and polishing skills. It was beautiful stiff but not much room in the luggage - will have to ditch some of the clothes.

Tomorrow we are off to the Mekong Delta and to our homestay accommodation - it will be interesting for 13 of us to share one shower and toilet and all sleep (or quietly stay awake) in the same room.