The Long Road To Saigon

Today was a big travelling day; up a 6, we were on the bus by 7:30, after grabbing a few last fresh bread rolls from the bakery.

The bus was thankfully quite empty and Ben and I could sprawl across the back seats to overcome the cronic lack of leg room that is built into most Vietnamese buses (they are all quite short I guess). The journey was pretty uneventful up to lunchtime, with just one unmade road with hairpins down the side of a mountain to add a little excitement. We had lunch when we pulled in at a nature reserve restaurant. We just ate peanut butter rolls though.

Back on the road in the afternoon things were a little more interesting; there was a huge downpour; serious tropical rain, coinciding with the rapidly rising temperatures. Reading Jack Kerouac at the time, and how he was scared out of his skin by Dean barreling across America at 110mph in a borrowed car, as he cowered in the back. It related rather strongly with my feelings as we hammered along passed overturned trucks in the waterlogged ditches.

We arrived in Saigon around 4 - very long journey. Seems like a great place though. We found a decent hotel in the heart of the backpacker area. Then went out and had an early dinner at a local restaurant. Tonight we are going to find a bar to watch the England game in and talk about the possibilties for the Mekong River Cruise.

A long journey - but looks like Saigon is well worth the wait. Looking forward to tomorrow!