Ho Chi Minh

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After an hour delay in the guesthouse our bus arrived to pick us up. Luckily for us the delay gave us a chance to grab a much needed coffee to cure our hungoverness (It's a word). It took about 6 and half hours to get to the border, where we had some lunch. The border was as slow and painful as usual. From the border it was about another hour and half to the city. We were dropped at a tour guide office and walked from there to a hotel we found in our guide book. Tired from the journey we had a quick bite to eat and had an early night.

We got up early the next morning and had our first hot shower in a long time! After breakfast, we wandered around the city in the scorching heat for about 2 hours looking for Cathay Pacific's office, so we could change the date of one of our flights. We eventually found it after asking for directions as the address we had was wrong (Never good in a city with so few street signs).

We then walked up past City Hall on our way to the Remanants War Museum. Of course it was closed for lunch, so we decided to sit in the park and wait, as we were too hot to walk any further. We did eventually make it in to the museum, which was a bit of a disappointment, although some of the displays were good, there was no real information, just a bit of good old Communist propaganda.

Afterwards we headed to the Reunification Palace, formely known as the Independence Palace. It was home to the president of South Vietnam during the war. It is where the Vietcong stormed to officially take Saigon. On our way back we walked past the Ben Thanh Market, but didnt bother going in. After checking our email, we went to bed.

We had to be early the next morning as we had booked a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels are about 40km outside of the city and were used by guerilla fighters against the U.S. The tunnels were used for everything from hiding places fro fighters to supply routes and were part of a much wider network of tunnels in the area. It took about 2 and half hours to get out there and we took a detour to a Handicapped Ceramic Factory along the way. Our annoying local guide had very little actual information about the war or the tunnels despite the fact he actually fought in it. The tunnels were still worth visiting and were a little scary to walk through. The Vietnamese were obviously a smaller race back then as we struggled to squeeze ourselves through some of them and the heat was incredible.

That evening when we got back we organised the bus to Dalat.

Next stop Dalat...

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Photos

Ho Chi Minh
The Main Man From Vietnam (Rhymes And Everything)

Sad Little Puppies
For Sale Along The Street

Ciaran In Cong Vien Van Hoa Park
Waiting for the museum to open.

Ronan In Cu Chi Tunnels
Something Tells Us The Viet Cong Weren't 6 Foot PLus