2 January - Saigon

I plan to do this properly this time and not in my usual 'taking pages of notes that then I don't use because why would anybody be interested in my travel observations' mode. But you kind of feel that if anyone wants to read about a destination, they'll read the travel supplements. But hey, this time I may try to fashion this trip into an article for sunday times travel and win their top prize - Toph has been told he has to take the winning snapshots and I won't be in them on account of having decided to a) bleach my eyebrows - which normally look pretty ok on my face/colouring and b) having taken a phone call whilst the bleach was doing its work with the result that now I have invisible ones and yes, a pencil is all I need but they don't sell brown /black eybrow pencils in Vietnam because EVERYONE has dark hair and no need for such a colour. Forgot to buy it at Heatrow of course.

So for now, Saigon is hot, 32 degrees hot and immenseley busy. Where have all these motorbikes come from?? Why do they all hoot/sound horns, beep bells and so on. Nice hotel though, am glad the Caravelle was full as our stay there would have been like any five star in the world, bit bland when you walk through the door, luxury is the same Hilton/Hyatt style everywhere. Our decision to stay in not chain-owned hotels has not gone too well though. We've ended up in a Sofitel as anything local doesn't seem to suit choosy Toph who spends time on websites looking at rooms and swimming pools and so on.

Me, I'm so used to travel on a budget and it suits me just fine. I just need a clean room and a decent bed and what the room generally looks like has not much relevance to me. I mean, do they all think that by laying a strip/runner of contrasting fabric across the foot of the bed it instantly becomes 'boutique' hotel? Are we so stupid as consumers? But he totally wants space and furnishings that suit him. Bizarre! In this area, he's the woman and I'm the bloke. Anyway, the hotel meets with his approval and his first impressions are positive. I remember arriving here 8 years ago and not liking it at all compared to the more peaceful North (had done the journey in revers to now). But as a first landing clash with this culture, he's well upn for it. The traffic is intense but crossing the street is not that difficult if you do it as they do, take it in small stages, lock eyes with riders/drivers and wait for oncoming traffic to dodge you. They do! They generally go very slowly anyway so you would not be killed by a .. moped. Toph has about ten books on Vietnam and the war in his suitcase and am afraid he won't find much that's left of the spirit of the foreign correspondents staying at the Continental or of The Quiet American. I don't dare tell him it's all gone. So long as he digs the food and he does, we're 50% on a winner. And he's already noticed the women are more shapely than the Thais. Same small frames/narrow hips, but they carry regular breasts and have more shapely bums than their neighbours across Cambodia and Laos.