Travel to Vietnam, Southeast, Ho Chi Minh City.

We left the hotel Saigon Dalat at about 1 and took an amazing journey to the airport, why amazing? Because there was hardly any traffic, we went mainly on a duel carriageway and it was such a good road with flowers in the central reservation and lights above so different to anything else we have been on in Vietnam. Arriving at the airport it seemed shut, upon enquiry we were told that all check-ins were closed until 2.00pm. Ok so it is holiday time. We left on time and arrived in Saigon after a thirty minute flight. A short taxi journey to our hotel and the total journey to Saigon including taxis was 90minutes. Not bad compared to a bus journey that we would have taken that lasted 8hours. Our hotel was 5 star Mariott, very swanky even had hot and cold running water. After a quick shower we made our way through hundreds of bikes, a brilliant light display, streets packed with young and old enjoying the momentto the Barbeque Garden, what a brilliant place! In the middle of this beautiful modern city with loads of other customers cooking/burning their own grub. Pauline felt a lot better after the
Steve going in to a tunnelnumbing effects of alcohol and after a lively meal we made our way back to the hotel. The finale of the evening was the firework display celebrating the New Year at midnight over the Saigon river. I was the only pensioner prepared to brave the crowds from our motley crew and it was well worth it. A brilliant display lasting over 20minutes, watched by a huge crowd sitting on their motorbikes.The next day February 10th, we had an early start motoring out towards the outskirts of Saigon to the Cu Chi area which was full of communist sympathisers during the American war; this is the terminology used by the Vietnamese, so its not called the Vietnam war, makes sense. This was New Year's Day and plenty of bikers out on the roads visiting their families. Most of them had their family on the motor bikes, we counted the max of two adults and three kids on one bike, the water buffalo was left at home

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