Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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We arrived at the port for Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon about 8:00am this morning. Doug had signed up for the Cu Chi Tunnels & Fruit Gardens tour and Annette decided to take the shuttle into the city, browse around and do some shopping. Where we are docked is about a 25-40 minute shuttle ride depending on traffic to get into the center of the city.

The city became the capital of a large area including present-day Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in the late 19th century, with the French modeling the city after their own image. The French influence is still here with its wide boulevards, architecture and devout Catholic population. It is the heart and sole of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City is a bustling, dynamic and industrious center, the largest city, the economic capital and the cultural trendsetter. The streets, where most of the city’s life takes place, are a myriad of shops, stalls, stands-on-wheels and vendors selling wares from blankets on the sidewalks. People on bikes with baskets pick through the waste receptacles for recyclable products. Another person along the sidewalk has a small scale and buys it from these people. The city is a constant buzz with the sounds of motorbikes, the main form of transportation. It is full of young people cruising the streets on their bikes and motorbikes.

Many of the areas surrounding the center part of the downtown and into the country are still pretty crude. The greater city is divided into districts, the downtown being District 1. It is where most forms of entertainment like the Municipal Theater, larger hotels like the Rex Hotel (which became famous during the Vietnam war) and Hard Rock Café is located. It has many of the nicer restaurants as well, along with it being the primary business area. Tonight, we will be going to an event called ‘An Evening Out in Saigon’, where we will stop at one of the nice hotels for a drink and live traditional entertainment on its roof.

The country has only re-opened its doors to general tourism for a little more than a decade, after a long period of isolation from the West. They have also re-established international trade agreements with many Western countries.

The years of colonialism and war have taken their toll. It is estimated the forest lost to Agent Orange will take more than a century to regenerate. There is a sense that strong feelings, especially with older folks, still exist against the North. There is no doubt that the country has also suffered years of strife and famine since, yet it is one of the world’s most densely populated countries, now exceeding 75 million. More than half of their population is under 25 years. The majority of them live in the lowland provinces of the Red River and the Mekong Delta, which Doug saw on last years visit.

The, now unified country, has three large cities; Hanoi, the country’s present capital, Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City, the largest and one of three self-administrating municipalities. Under the French, Saigon was known as “Pearl of the Orient.” Saigon was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City by the Communists following the war in 1975, of course, after their leader Ho Chi Minh. Most of the locals still call it Saigon.

The first stop on the tour today was at a local fruit garden/plantation, where we walked through the forest where they grew the fruit, and then sat down to taste a variety of them. We then went to a nice open-air type restaurant for lunch along the Saigon River, owned by a former soldier who fought at the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Then we headed for our tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels that were made famous during the Vietnam War, although the construction and digging of them started many years before. They were a vast network of underground tunnels dug by hand, which hid and protected thousands of Viet Cong during the war. Of the roughly 14,000 that died in the tunnels, 4,000 of them were US soldiers. They lived and fought from these solid underground tunnels capable of withstanding the weight of tanks and 50-lb bombs. These vast networks extended more than 120 miles, and included meeting rooms, smokeless kitchens, sleeping quarters, a healthcare center and tunnel entrances, which were well camouflaged.

Our military guide showed us an original intro propaganda movie that was used at the time, and explained where and how the tunnels were dug. We then went into the forest/jungle and were shown examples of various booby traps that they employed against the US and South Vietnamese troops. They showed the different methods of how they used our unexploded ordinances against us. We were then given an opportunity to crawl into the tunnels an experience what they were like. They were pitch black and very small! You could not see the person immediately in front of you. Without some kind of light, it was impossible to see. Once they got into the bigger rooms where they worked or lived, there was some kind of light. From these tunnels, they could pop up anywhere, surprise the enemy and attack them without being seen. We saw craters of where the bombs from B-52’s were dropped and a US tank still sits after being taken out.

After that, for a small fee we were able to shoot a variety of different weapons used during the conflict at a firing range. Doug, having used an M-16, the standard military issue rifle, during Air Force basic training, chose the M-60 semi-automatic rifle.

Upon leaving the tunnels, we headed back to the ship. Following our entertainment at the hotel, we then went to a fabulous traditional dinner at a Saigon restaurant called Mandarine. It was on a very ‘swinging’ street in town, lined with places featuring ‘girls of the night’ entertainment. It reminded us a bit of Amsterdam. And these were young girls!

The next morning, we decided to take the shuttle into town. Annette had ordered something made at a downtown clothing store, which we were going to pick up. And, we wanted to walk to the big market in town too. We went to the clothing store and guess what…it wasn’t ready. The young lady called to have it brought over, and guess what…it wasn’t right. So, she ended up buying a couple nice capes off the rack after much negotiation. We walked past a place that sold DVDs and stopped to check it out, leaving with a bag of about 50 movies and several TV series box sets. Annette had heard of a nice restaurant down town for lunch called Lemongrass. It was a block or so away and we had a fabulous Vietnamese lunch. Following lunch, we walked over to the market…big. Annette purchased a couple things, and we made our way back to the shuttle for our return to the ship before we sailed from Vietnam. We left with a much more positive feeling and impression this time, compared to our visit last year, and based on that, would look forward to returning again.

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Photos

Rice Fields
Taken from our balcony as we travel up the river on our way to docking outside the city.

Catching Anything?
This man is fishing in a small canal as we approach the fruit garden/plantation.

Irrigation Canals
This is how they water the vegetation in the plantation. It looks similar to the irrigation ditches in the Central Valley.

Banana Tree
These bananas are just about ready to harvest.

Fruit Tasting
The tables where we will sit to taste a variety of fruit and drink fresh coconut milk.

Lunch!
This is the restaurant where we will enjoy a traditional lunch along the Saigon River. It's owned by someone who fought in the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Water Lily
A beautiful water lily along the river.

Saigon River
A part of the river flowing past the restaurant.

Cu Chi Tunnels Entrance
The entrance as we prepare to go in.

Tunnel Intro
Our guide gives us an overview about the tunnels; where they are, how and why they were developed, and the strategy of how they were used to the advantage of the Viet Cong.

Digging Tools
This simple hand-held pick/shovel device and scoop were the primary tools that dug this vast tunnel system. The scoops, once full of dirt were passed back to the next person like a bucket brigade. The challenge that faced them was where to put the dirt that was coming out of the tunnel so that it wouldn't be seen by the South Vietnamese or the US soldiers.

Intro Room
The panel on the left shows the area around Cu Chi and the tunnel locations. The panel on the right shows the different levels of how they were dug, and the TV in the middle was used to show us an original propaganda piece that the Viet Cong used during the war. A picture of Ho Chi Minh hangs over the TV.

Tunnel Entrance
Here is an entrance to the tunnel. It would have been camoflauged to hide it from the enemy.

Camouflaged Entrance
The ranger shows us a tunnel entrance that has a wooden cap that they would cover with leaves.

Away He Goes
The Viet Cong could quietly exit and enter the tunnel system and have disappeared. Here you see him going down and pulling the leaf-covered lid into place as he descends.

Booby Trap!
This was an ugly trap that soldiers who stepped on the grass would fall into this hole with an awful surprise to follow. This trap was a board covered with grass and it spun on a rod in the middle like a revolving door.

Painful!
This is what they met at the bottom of the pit... very long and sharp spears.

Another Tunnel Entrance
Here is another tunnel entrance. Our guide also let us know that they created traps within the tunnel system that would catch our soldiers and hold them in place until an enemy would come and put them out of their misery.

M-41 US Tank
This is what's left of an M-41 tank that was destroyed by an enemy delay mine in 1970.

Enemy Weapons
This shelter displayed a variety of self-made weapons that the Viet Cong made...some of them were from remnants of our munitions that didn't explode or that they captured.

Another Booby Trap
Here's another in-ground trap, that when you fell into it, the trap wouldn't let you get back out.