Bagpipes in Saigon, Happy Valentine's Day.

We are on the roof of our hotel, looking at the higgedly piggedly sprawl that is Ho Chi Minh City. Buildings jostle for space as the motorbikes swerve in and out of each other on streets below. Valentine's day is big in Vietnam. Couples speed through the city, the women side saddle in their dresses or ao dai. They are hurrying to the park in the centre, the one place it appears that the vietnamese tradition of not showing public affection does not apply. But we are up above, trying to get to grips with the heat, the pollution and the views, and yes, the Scotsman in our group is living up to the stereotype and playing the bagpipes.

Front page news: "Roses sell out on Valentine's Day", reads the Saigon Times. So for now we are dependant on our Amercian TEFL teacher for news. The classes are going well though, and are proving a real insight into Vietnamese life. On the first day, our teacher asked the pupils who had been in a traffic accident, and surprise surprise, all of them had. Traffic doesn't stop here.

Tomorrow we fly to Hanoi, and I am looking forward to the drop in heat, the slower traffic, and finally becoming Hanoi Hannah.