The journey to Saigon was a bit different to normal, as it involved getting a public bus and the bus conductor paying for me to go on another one.

After much discussion with the various people on reception, we established that I wanted to get a public bus to Saigon. The other option was getting on a smaller bus outside the hotel which would take me to a bigger bus at the bus station, but this was going to be more expensive and I didn’t want to get on a big bus. I walked outside with one of the other people on reception, who I hadn’t spoken to and wondered if he knew what we had been talking about. After getting some Bahn Mi, a bus turned up and the bloke from the hotel help me put my stuff on it. The bus conductor was in a rush, as he wanted to pick up as many people as possible and asked for 300 000 VND. This is roughly what the other bus was going to cost and it was too much, so immediately after me complaining he lowered it to 170 000 VND and I got on.

The bus was crowded and was basically a Ford transit with some windows put in, but it didn’t go too fast (as with some other public buses) and not too many other people got on. Once we were past the main part of the city, there was a core group of a few people from the beginning who continued all the way to Saigon.

About half way the bus stopped in a petrol station and we all got out. I was just stretching my legs, but I think the bus conductor and the driver must have thought it was uneconomical to continue and so he unloaded my stuff. We waited by the side of the road until another bus to Saigon showed up and we all got on that, the first conductor paying the second conductor the appropriate fair for the journey between there and Saigon.

Once in Saigon, some of the people from the first part of the journey and an innocent bystander helped let me know when to get off. I was accosted by a very persistent moto-driver who I had to be very direct with and then found a public bus to where I wanted to go in Saigon; the main backpacker district.

I got to the backpacker district and walked around until I found somewhere to stay. It was a little bit expensive, but in comparison to what else was on offer, it was very good. I spent the next few days doing the following:

• getting my camera repaired
• buying an SD card (and backing-up my photos)
• getting my coat repaired (the sleeve had a hole burnt in it from Chengdu)
• buying a (fake) rucksack
• buying a (fake) Lonely Planet guide for Cambodia.

In the meantime I also went for a bit of a night out, found some good places to eat and ended up moving hotel to a much smaller, nicer, friendlier one, which actually meant that I ended up staying slightly longer than I intended to. After doing all of the jobs, I realised that I should really go to the Reunification Palace, so stayed there an extra day and went there too.