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Published: January 3rd 2008
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I only ended up staying in Ho Chi Minh City for two days, but I had a fantastic time!! Me and Rebecca arrived at 6am after an awful overnight bus journey (it was the bumpiest yet!!) and we got dropped at the backpacker area, which really reminded me of the Khao San Road, which I love!! On the first day I spent the day on my own as I wanted to organise a trip to Cu Chi Tunnels and to the Mekong Delta, whereas Rebecca wanted to shop, so we both headed off on our own and arranged to meet up later.
I managed to book a tour of Cu Chi Tunnels for the next day and I decided not to spend New Years Eve in Saigon, where it would no doubt involve way too much alcohol and lots of partying.....which on my own is probably a bit dangerous judging by previous solo drinking nights out (I didn't want to wake up in a different hotel again!!). Instead I booked a tour of the Mekong Delta, starting on 31st December, so I would be in a small city called Can Tho on New Years Eve instead.
Later that day
I decided to tour the city a bit and headed off first to the Reunification Palace - a gorgeous building that the previous Presidents lived in. Inside it was so luxurious with beautiful furnishings and lots of fine art on the wall. It even had its own cinema and gambling room!! For a small entrance fee you even got a free tour and the girl doing the tour was really helpful.
My next stop was the War Remnants Museum, which had planes and tanks outside the building which were really cool - although probably more appealing to men!! Inside there were photographs taken from the war, which were really upsetting, some of them were so gory it was horrible. There was one wall dedicated to the effects of Agent Orange, the chemical that the Americans used during the Vietnam war, which is still leading to birth defects these days. It was so upsetting seeing lots of photos of deformed people. The worst thing though were the two jars with deformed babies in - I can't believe that is on display, it was horrible and made me feel really upset. I don't understand why they need to display stuff like
that, I guess they just want you to really appreciate what they went through and what they are still going through!! I bet any Americans travelling in Vietnam feel so guiilty!!
Later that day I met up with Rebecca who came back loaded down with bags from shopping in a market nearby. Some of the things she'd bought were fantastic deals, so I decided that after my Cu Chi Tunnels tour the next day I'd go shopping with her and get some presents for people back home. I really couldn't believe how many presents she had bought though - she's Irish, so has a huge family and I dont think one aunt or counsin got missed out!!
The next day I headed off to the Cu Chi Tunnels on a tour with a company called Delta Adventures, who offered the tour for just $4 - bargain eh!! All the tours I've been on in Vietnam are so ridiculously cheap, you just couldn't do them independantly for anywhere near the same price. The tunnels were about 2 hours away by bus, so as is always the way with tours, we stopped on the way at a place where local
people create art using eggshells amoungst other things. There was a workshop inside where you could see the people at work and it was actually really fascinating. I'd seen the items they were making for sale around Vietnam, but I hadn't realised that they'd used eggshells for the decoration - it was so clever!!
Next stop were the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were really interesting. On our tour they took us around the original tunnels, but some had been made wider so that us westerners could crawl through to really appreciate what they went through. I only went through 40 metres of the tunnel and that was enough. The dark, the heat, the lack of fresh air and the lack of space were so uncomfortable!! Some Vietnamese actually lived in the original sized tunnels during the war and there were rooms below the ground that acted as bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. It really made me think just how lucky I am having such an easy life back home. What strong people to be able to endure something like that. No wonder the American's couldn't defeat them. During the war the Americans tried to get them out
of the tunnels firstly by sending down sniffer dogs, which failed as apparently they put chilli by the holes so when the dogs sniffed them it hurt their noses. They also tried putting water down the holes, but again the Vietnamese outsmarted them by creating an extra layer of tunnels for the water to do down, which went back to the Saigon river.
My tour guide also showed us the spider holes that the Vietnamese could disappear down. These are really tiny holes that they covered up with leaves so that the American's wouldn't know where they would appear from. They could then disappear back down the holes again. We were also shown the boobytraps that the Vietnamese used - it was like something out of The Goonies or Indiana Jones - they had so many different types of traps. I definitely would have been scared if I'd been fighting against them in the war!!!
Once I got back from my tour I spent way too much money buying souvenirs and presents from the local market, then Rebecca, bless her, treated me to KFC and some beer. So we spent our last night travelling together watching a funny
movie called Talledega Nights with Will Ferrell in, drinking beer and eating KFC. Wicked. Haven't had a takeaway meal since England!!!
I was definitely sad to say goodbye to Ho Chi Minh the next day and even sadder saying goodbye to Rebecca. I'm back on my own again, which is exciting, but I wish I'd had a friend around to celebrate New Years Eve with.
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