The first thing we noticed when we arrived at Ho Chi Minh City (South Vietnam) is that nobody calls it Ho Chi Minh City, it is still definitely Saigon to the locals.  So, we'll go with the locals and refer to our first stop in Vietnam as Saigon (it's so much quicker to type anyhow).

The second thing we noticed while making the car trip from the airport into the city was the amount of scooters on the road.  We have been to Rome and witnessed the scooter fest there, and we have also been to Thailand and seen what they have to offer in the scooter department, but NOTHING compares to the amount of scooters on the road in Saigon and the skill with which they are driven.  Apparently, out of the 8 million people that live in Saigon, 4 million of these ride scooters.  Scooters are obviously the main form of transport.  We witnessed anywhere between 2 and 5 people on a scooter at one time, not to mention the fact that the driver was probably talking on his mobile and smoking at the same time as navigating his way through traffic.

The traffic in Saigon was a constant form of entertainment to us as we explored the city.  The way that all of the cars, trucks, buses and of course scooters, manage to share the road without any sign of road rage was fascinating to us.  We asked one of the locals that we met about road laws (because it wasn't clear to us that there are any) and he said that there was one road law that everyone obeys which is "keep moving!". Once we knew this it all made so much more sense!  Drivers don't stop when they get to an intersection, they just keep moving and the drivers that are already on the road just make room for them, and they all constantly toot their horns at each other to let everyone know they are there.  Organised chaos at it's best.

We spent most of our time in Saigon exploring the city on foot, for us, the most interesting things to see were the colourful locals going about their everyday lives on the side walks.  There were plenty of Hoc Tocs to look at (hair cuts on the side of the road), people cooking up a storm with unrecognisable ingredients as they crouched next to street corners, and the endless amounts of coconut drink vendors.  

We spent an afternoon visiting the War Remnants Museum which was a very sombre experience, and a bit distressing at times but definitely worthwhile visiting.

Some places that we would recommend are the Duxton Hotel, the Temple Club Restaurant at 29-31 Ton That Thiep St, and Pomodoro Restaurant which serves great pasta if you need a change from Vietnamese food. In terms of Vietnamese food, we tried various restaurants and street vendors and were never disappointed so there are a myriad of options to choose from.

We organised a couple of day trips from Saigon, one to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which are a system of secret, underground tunnels developed by the Viet Cong during the war.  These tunnels operated like underground villages, they linked communities and their largely undetected existence played a key role in the winning of the Vietnam war.  The tunnels have been preserved and you can even crawl through sections of restored tunnel if you wish (I gave it a miss as I was scared I might freak out half the way through but David did the crawl and came out the other side looking a bit green around the gills).

Finding unique and handmade items in Saigon was quite challenging - we did manage to find a few things to add to our nest (including some local tea from the Mekong region), however, we had much more luck and time once we headed up North to Hanoi.

To view photos of our trip to Saigon over at our blog, click here. 

While we were in Saigon we also organised a day trip to the Mekong Delta through Tonkin Travel which included a driver and a guide - our guide for the day was fabulous. He provided us with heaps of interesting information along the way and doing a day trip this way is remarkably inexpensive considering what you get for your money (car, driver, guide, private boat, home-cooked lunch, tour of villages and factories).  In fact, it seems that this is the way that a lot of tours are conducted in Vietnam because you are unable to hire cars (and to be honest, you would be taking your life into your own hands by doing so).  The Mekong Delta is the most productive agricultural region in Vietnam producing nearly half of the nation's food crop.  The Mekong River is nutrient rich and makes this region extra-ordinarily fertile for rice, bananas, coconuts, tropical fruits and sugar cane.  The region is made up of secluded waterways, floating markets, paddy fields and fruit orchards and is very picturesque.  Over lunch, our guide kept referring to the big cock which lived at the place we were having lunch - we eventually figured out he was referring to a fighting rooster in training - this provided us with a bit of a giggle as we were munching on the delicious elephant fish that was provided as part of our home-cooked lunch banquet.  The Mekong Delta gave us a real sense of how resourceful and hard-working the Vietnamese people are.  On a visit to a local fish sauce factory and a sweets factory we observed local people creating local delicacies in a traditional way - there is no waste in anything they produce, in particular when it comes to food.  What can't be eaten can be turned into fuel or goods of some sort.

To view photos of our time at the Mekong Delta over at our blog, click here.