Cu Chi Tunnels

The day started with the same basic breakfast.  A freshly baked bagette with jam.  We then shuffled onto a bus to see the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong lived underground while the Americans bombed the surface...  The bus trip took us through the outskirts of Saigon, while our tour guide, Chistre, gave an excellent commentary about some of the history of Vietnam, as well as how the country has changed over the years, especially after 1975 and 1995 (the end of the war, and the lifting of the trade embargo)

Our first stop was a laqurware factory where disabled people are employed to produce some amazing vase, bowls, and wall hangings.  Hard to describe, pictures required. (none available at this time)

The next stop was the tunnels.  This area was bombed very heavily in an attempt to wipe out the VC population in the area.  The people had other ideas.  The constructed a labyrinth of tunnels spanning the length and bredth of the are, up and down three levels where they lived for 20 years.  We saw a couple of fox holes, some of the spider holes, and then had the opportunity to crawl through some of the caves themselves.  I didn't think I was clastrophobic, but it was very freaky down there crawling through pitch blackness (especially after they told us there were traps everywhere, where one wrong turn could be very bad...)

We did have an opportunity to shoot some of the rifles and machine guns, but chickened out and decided to save my money.

Once back in Ho Chi Minh, we had lunch at a fairly up market resteraunt before heading back to our room for some R&R.  We then found the local supermarket and stocked up on some snacks for the days ahead. 

Afterwards we headed out for dinner, we ended up in an Indian place.  It was quite good, I ended up with Butter Chicken, probably should have tried something a bit more exotic.  Regardless, it was very good.  After dinner we went for a mini pub crawl, firstly at a very western place, where we were offered: Cigarettes, knick naks, pot, boom boom (whatever that is...), dried fish, books, inflated animals, weird bird things, lottery tickets, and a few other things that escape me right at the minute.  We then tried to find somewhere a bit more local.  We ended up at another corner where the beer was less than half the price of the western bar, and the clientell all local.  We sat there for an hour or so just watching the world go past, was excellent...

Tomorrow we are headed to the Mekong, at this stage it is only for a day tour before jumping on an overnight train to the beach resort Nha Trang.

Cheers,

Michael