Landing in Ho Chi Minh and taking a Grab from the airport it initially looked a lot like some of the other cities but we quickly realised there are way more scooters and motorbikes on the road, 10 million in Ho Chi Minh for a population of 14 million.

Across the country Vietnam has a population of 100 million with 77 million scooters and motorbikes. Even if the UK grew to the same population the number of scooters and motorbikes would still only be c2 million.

Despite the sheer volume of traffic on the roads we have only seen 1 low level accident so far, even when it appears that there is no rules for motorists or pedestrians and very few traffic signals.

We did a couple of tourist trips while here, starting with a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels to see how the Vietnamese made  use of the natural environment and their intelligence and  cunning to match up to the bigger and more highly resourced US army. The trip we took was by speedboat along the Saigon river  which we thoroughly recommend as it provided a great view of the changing landscape as you left the city in addition to getting us to the tunnels before all the crowds on the tourist buses arrived.

Having been told that the average weight of Vietnamese soldiers was 38 to 45kg there was no decision to be made for me about whether I would try the bit of the tunnel available for tourists, even though it had been widened a bit over the years. Pip decided she would give it a go but as you will see from the video the guide took, her confidence levels changed pretty quickly.

The other trip was an overnight trip around the Mekong Delta which was a bit of a tourist conveyor belt but interesting none the less. Apart from going across the river we saw coconut candy being made, took a small boat through the mangrove, visited a small rice paper making facility and tried local honey (delicious) although I am not sure Pip enjoyed meeting the bees.

The overnight stop was in Can Tho so that we could see the Cai Rang floating market early in the morning. We got there at 7am but most of the actual business had already happened by then.

This was the part of the trip that we could have done without. When you hear floating market in Asia your head conjures up bright colours, small boats and smiling people selling flowers and fruit. This was large grey and black boats on brown water selling farm produce in wholesale quantities.

There are a couple of walking streets in Ho Chih Min, one that is more family friendly, often with street performers, that goes straight past the famous cafe apartments.

The other walking street is a more restrained version of Bangla Road in Phuket. Fantastic for people watching and at the small bars between those with girls dancing on podiums you can sit and see the world go by while drinking a beer for £1.

On the night we were there Vietnam were playing the first leg of the Asean cup final away to Thailand. Vietnam were the current champions and won this first leg 2-0. This caused major celebrations in the street but from the minute the match finished the viluem of traffic (mainly bikes) on the roads started to increase as everyone who had watched the match at home came out to just drive round the city in convoys blowing plastic horns they had magically pulled from somewhere. This went on for hours after the match finished.

Next stop Nha Trang