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Published: August 11th 2006
Today was possibly the craziest day in Vietnam! We booked a private tour again, with the same guide named Lam, to the Cu Chi Tunnels which are a couple of hours from Saigon. During the war, the tunnels were used by the north Vietnamese army to hide, to transport weapons and necessities and to set up traps for the enemy. Unlike the Vinh Moc Tunnels in the Demilitarized Zone, these tunnels are over 200km in length and you cannot walk upright in them. The soldiers would have crawled on their stomachs but we crouched down and shuffled along on our feet. These tunnels are not for the claustrophobic but wow, were they ever amazing. The entrances are tiny doors hidden by leaves and branches, which you slide into. We got to try one of the hidden entrances in the ground and I really didn't think Nathan or I would fit but we did.
But the absolutely prime event had to be the shooting range on site. Hmmm, which to shoot? The famed Russian AK47? The M16? The M60 machine gun? Why, all three of course! At a dollar per bullet, we pretty much spent all of our lunch money shooting
at the targets (alas, we came close but didn't hit them). The M60 is especially wild. Ten bullets gone in less than 5 seconds! We wore earplugs and headphones - those guns are loud! We saved some of the shells to bring home. The site is run by military personnel so it was fun to be shown the proper way to shoot. And don't worry, the guns are mounted so you can't carry them around or or run wildly into the jungle so it's safe.
From there, we traveled to a Cao Dai temple. We were pretty far from Saigon at this point and the roads weren't in great shape, making for a seriously bumpy and uncomfortable ride. Cao Dai is a religion that incorporates elements from Christianity, Buddhism, Taosim, Islam and a few others. We got to watch the noon "mass" which was a bit disappointing for me although Nathan really enjoyed it. I assumed we would be actually attending the ceremony but it turns out that visitors just watch the ceremony from above and take pictures. I found it really wrong to be taking flash photography during such a spiritual ceremony and that most of the visitors
Hidden entrance to the tunnels
From there, you'd slide down to the main tunnel networkdidn't bother to cover up their bare shoulders like we were asked to. But the ceremony was very beautiful, very colourful. The participants wear coloured robes, red, white, blue, yellow depending on their original religious sect. There are no sermons or readings, just a sort of singing chant amongst the participants (led by a lovely choir) as they reflect/pray internally. It was quite peaceful making it a really interesting contrast from the tunnels and guns we'd just visited.
Needless to say, we were exhausted, sweaty and dirty after today. We both crashed in the car on the drive home and got some much-needed sleep before our flight to Cambodia tomorrow afternoon. We spent our last night in Saigon having a great meal at a local Vietnamese restaurant followed by ice cream; a nice, but bittersweet end to my month in Vietnam and Nathan's first week in southeast Asia.
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Jen A
non-member comment
awesome!!!!!
yay you found the place...That is so cool!!