An interesting visit to a Saigon coffee shop

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This virtual tour with Heygo took us to A Communist apartment complex. A vibrant local market & The second oldest cafe in Saigon.

The apartment complex once inhabited by the Vietnamese military is now given back to local people who enjoy a great community.

The highlight of the tour was in Saigon's District 3, the café at 287/72 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street used to be a weapons vault. It is decorated with memorabilia of soldiers in the Vietnam War, the country's war against American invaders which ended in 1975. The three levels building still has its original brick floor and tiled roof. The house’s specialty is a tunnel system that opened to visitors in 2018.

In the 1960s, under the guise of repairing the house's bathroom drain, Lai asked his trusted workers to build this vault to store weapons transported from the suburbs.In order to avoid detection, the dug-up soil was put into cartons and taken out in a car. It took almost a year for the basement to be completed.

About over 10 meters long and 2.5 meters high, the tunnel is plastered with thick waterproof cement. The tunnel has four round frames connected to the drainage pipe, which was of the perfect size that a person could use to escape.

From 1966 to 1968, nearly two tons of weapons and ammunition including guns, explosives, detonators, shotguns, grenades and bullets were transferred here.

The underground tunnel also has a secret passage leading to the second floor of the house. From the narrow walkway in the underground tunnel, residents could climb the ladder to reach upper floor.

The tunnel’s entrance is placed under a bathroom sink. From here, people in the house could escape through the balcony and roof.

The Citroen Car from the French colonial period belongs to the owner. It was used to transport weapons to the tunnel.

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