Standing 262 meters in the air, the unmissable Sky tower was a recommendation that was definitely on the agenda before leaving Saigon. Dodging the hefty admission fee (well kind of…) we caught the elevator up to level 52 and entered the 360 degree bar with outstanding views in every outward a direction as the backdrop for our last night out in Ho Chi Minh. The neon lit city was incredible from the air, and so were the prices of the drinks but it was a splurge that had to be done!

Last night I ate close to the best meal of my trip… BBQed red snapper with a plate of cucumber, lettuce, rice vermicelli, rice papers and basil leaves and amazing chilli, lime, salt and pepper corn sauce. I literally never wanted it to end!

All booked and ready to go for living the high life; air con, hot showers, buffet breakfast, poolside cocktails, no more bunk beds or shared bathrooms, multiple pools and swim up bars in this hillside retreat. I haven’t spent more than $8 on accommodation this entire trip, in less than a month Jay and I will be living in real life heaven!

After a surprisingly smooth 9 hour journey from Cambodia to Vietnam I arrived in the chaotic city of Ho Chi Minh. Whisked around on a motor bike I was in amongst the sea of the 6 million motorbikes in the city (and their are 11 million living here!) I didn’t have much choice arriving alone, when it was dark to a place where their were rarely cabs. I finally meet up with the boys and had my first hot shower in 6 weeks and lapped up the luxury of air con. I met a girl called Caitlin at the bar whilst we played all played pool and so we all headed out for a meal and some drinks together. My first bowl of pho down and feeling like a millionaire with all my Dong. Vietnam, and especially this city is a whole new ball game from Cambodia. For one is cleaner, the people are less smiley and happy but (some) don’t seem to hassle you as much of rather as often, but Im constantly being warned about bag snatchings and bad stories/ areas and so thankfully I have recruited 6 English body guards, in exchange for being the groups personal “trip advisor” and planner. This city is fast paced, chaotic and crossing the road here is literally fearing for your life scary. But I am welcoming new surroundings with two arms as a change from the last weeks luck.

Go to find Starbucks and get my camera cleaned/ fixed…get mega and delicious sundaes instead.

A dog the size of my hand who roamed the restaurant we dined at

Meeting back up with half the Kampot crew, I’ve been initiated as a “lad” or so I’ve been told… After a fun night out, way too much karaoke and running on minimal sleep (though I drank my first and only full beer/drink last night I was feeling ridiculously ‘hung over’ from lack of sleep) we ventured off on our half day tour, most of the boys feeling a little worse for wear. It was such an interesting day and by the end of the tunnel scramble we were all feeling hang over free. The boys have already done the war museum, arriving a few days before me in Ho Chi Minh City, so Im off to compliment this tomorrow.

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Something that was really cool and added to the effect of the atmosphere was this shooting range half way through the tour. Allowing tourists to fire war type guns, as they would have in the war. I say add to the atmosphere because the entire time you were doing the tour there were gun shots going off in the background, making it feel much more realistic!<

Here is the entrance to the underground tunnels. I wasn’t quiet sure what I was expecting. They started out alright, and hence this is the only picture I snapped up (marvellous isn’t it?) because from here on in, it just got smaller and smaller and hands and knees were required. What made it hard was that I was wearing a backpack and people in front of me kept taking pictures and stopping causing traffic. About half way through the 100m tunnel crawl I started to slightly panic, it was super hot down their and I just wanted people to keep moving. Finally we reached the surface to find out this was in fact the one closest of the ground and the next on was deeper and tighter. A lot more people voluntarily opted out of the second one, that or physically wouldn’t have fit and weren’t allowed. I was skeptical cause I had started to get a little claustrophobic, but I figured it was only 40 meters this time. Yes it was definitely much, much tighter but it was also much darker with sections where for a good 30 seconds you couldn’t see a think and just had to keep crab walking or crawling in hope. We reached the surface dripping in sweat and thankful for fresh air and to be seeing the light again. I honestly don’t entirely know how they continually used this tunnel system day in and day out during the war.