Ho Chi Minh City

We haven't told you about Vietnam yet! Although it was a month ago already, it's still fresh in my mind because we had such an amazing time! We were gone almost a whole week, leaving on a Saturday and getting back on the Thursday. We didn't have many plans when we set out, but had a guesthouse booked for the first few nights in the backpackers' district.
Ho Chi Minh is such a great city. We enjoyed it very much, found our way around the main area pretty quickly, loved the neighbourhood we were staying in and ate oodles and oodles of noodles! There are many more green spaces than in Phnom Penh and it was nice to walk and sit in the big park near the market. We also ate in a nice little Russian restaurant, which made us feel like we were in Charlie's Oma's house eating borscht and pirogies.
On our second day, we joined a day tour and saw the Cu Chi tunnels, where Viet Kong fighters hid out during the war. It was really interesting and very propaganda. We even got to walk along part of a tunnel that had been expanded to 'fit' tourists (the normal size tunnel required you to shimmy along with your elbows on your stomach). I had to remind myself a few times not to panic, but I was glad I did it.

Charlie fulfilling a childhood dream... shooting an AK-47
Can you see me?

We also visited the Cao Dai Temple that day for the noon mass. Cao Dai is a strange religion, which we learned a little about from our tour guide, who liked to be called 'Slim Jim'. It is a religion that combines aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism. They also worship Victor Hugo as one of their saints... umm, yeah, we're still confused by that one. All in all, though, it was an honour to be allowed to observe their worship service.

Some of the priestesses; men and women sat on opposite sides of the temple
Can you find Jesus?

The last thing we did that day was visit a handicraft factory workshop where the government hires physically disabled people, which Vietnam has no shortage of thanks to Agent Orange (thank you, America). The crafts are beautiful and the people very kind. It was obviously a tourist trap, as almost every tour bus going through this town stops here, but it was a nice experience anyway.

After a couple more days hanging around Ho Chi Minh we decided to get back to Phnom Penh by the scenic route, literally. We booked a two day boat trip along the Mekong, stopping by a floating market and a few other coconut and rice paper workshops. It was lovely. Some bits were by bus, but we caught a beautiful sunset on the ferry ride across the river.