As we flew from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City with that well-known carrier, Vietnam Airlines, we took the time to peruse the in-flight magazine, which had a handy section on basic vocabulary. And, we quote, from the top of the page:
    "Hay di cham mot chut" - plse slow down
    "Xin dung su dong coi" - plse don't use your horn so much

Draw your own conclusions!

Our first objective was to meet with Soph at the airport - with her white skin and blonde hair, she was easy to spot amongst the sea of brown faces, and at 5'10", she practically towered over the locals.

Confident that the traffic would be absolute bedlam, we set off for Pham Nga Lao area (backpacker land in District 1), and weren't disappointed by the ride. For the uninitiated, Ho Chi Minh City = remarkably few cars but well over 1 million bikes and mopeds, an astounding absence of road rules/priorities, plus the constant use of the horn to let anyone know you're coming through. The in-flight magazine was starting to make sense.

From what we've seen, HCMC is cheaper than Bangkok, and friendlier. The currency takes some getting used to; you can pay for practically anything in 2 currencies - either Vietnamese dong, or US dollars, but with 22,000 VSD to £1, the maths gets complicated. Our first night was incredibly cheap - admittedly not great food, but for 3 courses & beers for 4 people, US$13.00 in total was hardly expensive!

Done some touristy stuff in HCMC (sights, markets, museums, pagodas, blah blah blah), and also did a fantastic 2 day trip to the Mekong Delta, further in the south. It's basically a massive set of waterways with 9 tributaries, and despite its filthy brown appearance, its surrounded for the most part by lush vegetation. The trip was memorable for 5 highlights:

• floating market - normal street market, transferred to boats
• thatched houses all along the riverbank, with wooden boats 'parked' out front,rickety wooden bridges and moorings
• the local kids who were happily splashing about in the filthy water, grinning and waving
• Rung Tram forest where some fighting took place during the Vietnam war - a terrifying place to be, at the best of times, all swamps, funny noises and hidden bunkers. If you stood still you were pretty much camouflaged. Its inhabitants included, amongst other animals, 13 species of cobra...not a nice place to get stuck in
• SNAKES - drank snake wine (damn strong), ate stir-fried snake with noodles (not distinctive but tasted ok, texture somewhere btwn chicken and squid!), and most of all, had a photo taken of Sare, Soph and James with a massive python 'necklace'. You know those moments when you start off thinking something would be a good idea,and then... This python must've been 2m long, pretty heavy and bloody scary to drape around us,but we still managed a petrified smile for the camera!

Tomorrow we're off to Dalat in the central highlands, and then back towards the coast and moving north. Soph and Sare left for the coast this morning, so hopefully we'll catch up with them in a few days in Hoi An (where you can apparently get made-to-measure cashmere suits for $35). Bring it on.