Sometimes they shook hands with the foreigners, occasionally they smiled, or waved from the trucks, but never once did I see them lose their self-control.I walked past the cathedral, and came upon a North Vietnamese soldier in a condition of extreme embarrassment He was facing a wall, secretly looking at something. I thought he was embarrassed by having to relieve himself in front of a group of interested onlookers, but in fact he was consulting his compass, unsure of where he was supposed to be The group realised his difficulty, and gave him directions. At this moment the fire brigade drove past, lights blaring, horn blaring, waving their hats in the air, in expressions of wild delight. Further down, along Tu Do street, I met a friend and we walked together to the Ministry of Defence, which was in the process of surrendering.

At these ceremonies, a salute was always fired over the building, and so the city must have been full of failing lead, and yet I never heard of anyone being injured from such fall-out. This was one of the many curious features of the day.The most dramatic change that had taken place was the complete disappearance of the Saigon army. All round the streets one would come across piles of clothes, boots and weapons. Some of the piles were so complete it looked as if their former occupant had simply melted into his boots.

And then, in the doorways, one would see young men in shorts, hanging around with an air of studied indifference, as if to say: "Don't look at me, I always dress like this - it's the heat, you know." Where groups of soldiers had been caught and told to surrender, they were made to take off their clothes and sit down. I came across one such group by the town hall.Slowly the streets were beginning to fill up again. Occasionally the requisitioned jeeps of the former regime came past, full of cheering youths in gear that was intended to look like Vietcong attire. These new revolutionary enthusiasts were immediately distinguished in appearance and behaviour from the real thing Some of them were disarmed on the spot. Others were to carry on for several days or weeks before being identified, but for the moment they had a great fling, cheering, shouting and riding around. Most people were still indoors, wondering what would happen to them.

The first to appear on the streets and talk to the soldiers were the old men, women and young children. They brought out tea to the tired troops, and sat with them, firing questions about what would happen next. The reassurance they received spread visibly throughout the suspicious city, and in a short while the areas where the troops were concentrated (around the palace and the port) took on the air of a massive teach-in.The sorts of questions being asked were: Would there be revenge? Would those who had left North Vietnam at the time of the division be forced to return? Would the women be forced to cut their hair? Would those with painted nails have them pulled out, without anaesthetic? Would women be forcibly married off to the crippled soldiers of the North? To all such questions, the answer was a gentle no. Another question was, what did the North Vietnamese eat? The fact such a question could be put shows the ignorance of young Saigon about Hanoi, since the answer of course was rice.I was getting very hungry and thirsty after the exertions of the day, so I wandered down to my old hotel by the market The manager was pleased, and rather surprised, to see me. She had obviously assumed that, whatever I said, I would in fact leave with the Americans I told her what was happening outside. "We are very pleased to welcome the liberation forces," she said, through clenched teeth. The nightclub dancer, whom I had failed to assist to leave, was also there She gave me some very sick looks.