So a new trip has begun, I left Melbourne at lunch time on Monday and go into HCMC at about 10:00pm (with the 4 hour time difference, that is about 2am Melbourne time). I was a bit concerned about the transfer to my second flight as I did not know how long it would take to get through Singapore customs to get to my checkin counter. As it turns out it was quite quick and I was at the counter within 45 minutes of landing and could have made the earlier flight, unfortunately there were no seats left so had to hang out at the airport for an extra 2 hours.

My first day at HCMC started early which was helped by the excitement of my new trip and the sudden time change. It turns out not only to a get two free beers a night for my $US8 but they also include breakfast - what a bargain this place it. I have not complaints about the place at all, they have a nice rooftop, air conditioning in the bedrooms and the beds are very comfortable.

So after breakfast I laid out my plan for my first big walk for the day, this started of worse then normal when after 10 minutes I walking in completely the wrong direction. After turning my map around I was flying.

I deliberately selected the non-direct path to get to where I was going so I could walk through some of the city parks. It was pretty cool with a lot of people practicing different form of martial arts and exercising. They exercise stations setup all over the park.

First stop was the War Remnants Museum to get my propaganda fix, though it was very interesting it was definitely one side. A lot of the photos could have been interpreted differently with a different caption under them. However there is no denying the impact agent orange and the other chemicals dumped on this county have had.

It was then off to Reunification Palace which was once the Presidential Palace, but is now open to the public and is a real time warp of a place as if feels like it has not been touched since it was built in the 60's. Then it was off to Notre Dame Cathedral which I must say I was not really expecting to see this kind of religious temple on this trip. It was then off to the Jade Temple which is more like was I was expecting when it came to religious buildings.

I decided to finish of the day with a walk through the botanical gardens which was not as nice as I had hoped. Turns out is the zoo/national gardens and I will not be putting it as the best zoo I have ever seen, but the gardens were nice. I have never seen so many unhappy and bored animals in my life. I swear the way way the big cats looked they were just waiting to die so they could be free.

After that depressing little trip I then walked back to my hostel along the riverfront and then dropped into a couple of tailors just to see costs and how long they need to make a suit.

Anyway, big day today - up early and breakfast is done.