Ho (Chi Minh)

I am Vietnam sitting at my hostel keyboard and there is a cat fighting with me for control, so please excuse any errant typos. It's the cat's fault.

We got the bus from Phnom Phen this morning and crossed the border which was incredibly (disappointingly?) easy and painless (well, apart from general toe pain). I was sort of expecting a ridiculously covert and spy-style border system where everyone was scrutinised closely for weapons/Facebook-accessing materials (Facebook is supposedly banned in Vietnam, although I have been able to access it fine here in Ho Chi Minh, but then it's a big city so maybe that's why). Actually, you sort of just walked (in my case, hop/shuffled) through and they smiled at you. Not what I expected from "The Socialist Republic of Vietnam" at all - I was very caught off guard.

So we tipped up in Ho Chi Minh about 2pm and sauntered (in my case, hop/shuffled - far less elegant) around until we found a really lovely hostel with friendly people and nice rooms and free internet (no free breakfast, but free bananas so that'll do). We sort of decamped and faffed about for a bit and then went for a wander. I gave some laundry into the hostel and as they were taking it I saw a sign for shoe-mending and thought immediately of my trusty Topshop ballet flats which are, unsurprisingly after the various mountaineering-style journeys I have put them through, looking a little the worse for wear. I have already sewed them up once myself but thought the hostel might do a better job, so gave them into be mended. Imagine my surprise when the hostel owner put them straight in the bin! My look of confusion must have said it all and she, very embarrassed, picked them out again and dusted them off and put them in the mending pile (it could have been the laundry pile actually, who knows - either way, they will come back clean or fixed or both and won't be thrown out with the rubbish...). I was both very upset and very pleased because it really was funny. Although it would have been less funny if I hadn't noticed her putting them in the bin. There are many things in Ho Chi Minh, but not Topshop... yet.

Ho Chi Minh is brilliant. It is so much more of a 24 hour city than Phnom Phen, and it is incredibly cosmopolitan and diverse. There are plenty of backpackers absolutely everywhere which is really nice, and the area we are staying in, District 1, is great because it's so central for everything. We wandered about taking in the bright lights of KFC and Pizza Hut (but not going inside because it's gross), getting increasingly good at crossing the ridiculous roads where thousands of motorbikes come at you so fast (like Jaws in "Jaws", or "Jaws 2") - we actually came up with a really efficient tactic which is use a local person as a human shield as they generally know what they're doing road-crossing-wise. So we just sort of let them take the lead and shadow them very closely and it's worked out really well for us (and no worse for them) so far.

We went for dinner and a few drinks but have had a relatively quiet one tonight, as we're getting up early to do a tour of the tunnels the Vietnamese used in the war, and to go to the War Remnants Museum tomorrow. What a cheerful day ahead. What with that and my toe it's a wonder I am not more depressed. Talking of my toe, I made a hilarious and very expensive trip to the pharmacy earlier to buy everything I could ever need, I nearly bought a wheelchair - it was very tempting but my budget wasn't up to it. I was close, though.

Miss you all very much xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx