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Published: June 11th 2010
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We take a short flight from Siem Reap and arrive in Ho Chi Minh city and soon realise that Vietnam is completely different to Cambodia. I was expecting it to be pretty much the same 'same same but different' but it really is a lot different. The buildings are more developed and there are more western style shops with glass fronts and A/c. There are neon signs everywhere and advertising billboards which we just didn't really see in Cambodia.
We have been told that the people in Vietnam are not so friendly but this is untrue, the people we meet are very friendly towards us. Apparently there are 8 million people living in Ho Chi Minh and there are over 4 million motorbikes. They are everywhere, the traffic is madness with wheels, people just go wherever they want to and it seems sufficient to blow your horn as loud as possible to let people know whatever crazy manouver you are about to pull off. The horn it seems is the most important part of the vehicle, if the brakes dont work, no worries, if you have a good operational horn!
The first afternoon we wander around the city and
visit the war museum which is well worth a visit and portrays the war from different viewpoints including those of the various journalists and photographers from the world over that covered the conflict. Many of whom lost their lives. It is clear from the visit that the war was just about money and we leave with a sense of horror at what a waste of life it was. As we are leaving it starts to rain so instead of walking back via the palace and notre dam cathedral we get talked into taking a cyclo ( a one person cycle carriage) after some bartering we get it down to 100,000 dong (about $6-$7) and we are off, each on our own cycle cart. This is one of the scariest modes of transport you can imagine, basically it is like being pushed in a big pram through the madness of the traffic, I dont know how we managed to not be hit, there truely must be reason in the roasting of eggs?
The "tour" is a little fast but we do see the city as we ride through and we are back at the hotel within 30 minutes. We go
to pay and the guy then starts gettng funny saying it was 100,000 each, he did not make this clear and is really trying it on, he won't look us in the eye and gets very animated. In the end I go back into the hotel and Shenton deals with him and leaves him the 100 000 dong as agreed, Shenton has to put it down onto the bike as he will not take it, I guess he just saw us as an easy touch!
That night we head out to get some food and end up in a Vietnamese pancake place, we dont have a clue what we are ordering but the food comes and is really nice and completley different to the food we have been eating in Cambodia so a welcome change.
Our next day is booked on a tour to a temple and the Chu Chu tunnels. It is an early start and a long 3 hour drive to the temple on the way we get taken to a handicraft place run by the governement where disabled people make all the goods you see in the market.
The temple belongs to The Cao Dai
religion, it is colourful kitsch-like architecture that mixes influences from different world religions.
There is the Divine Eye that watches over a hall supported by 28 dragon-encrusted columns.
Cao Dai is a syncretist religion founded in Vietnam in the 1920s. Statues of different religious leaders including Jesus, Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tze share the altar stage. We are able to watch the faithful congregate and worship, this they do every 6hrs. Victor Hugo is saintified by Cao Dai, it all seems a little bizzare, still there are over 3 million followers and no spaceships following comets!
Back in the bus for another 2 hours to the tunnels. This place is fascinating and it becomes clear that the vietcong were incredibly organised and focused towards the defeat of the americans. They basically have miles and miles of underground tunnels over three levels which lead to the centre and out to the Saigon river with numerous places to exit. You can see the entrances are well camoflaged so they would not be noticed and also as the Vietnamese people are so small the americans soldiers when discovering some tunnels were unable to move along them, also the traps the vietgong set,
made this to risky. We get to go into one of the tunnels which is described as 5 star compared to the ones used during the war. This tunel is dark and cramped and I cant believe that people lived in these tunels during the war and only came out at night. We crawl through for 100meters and by the end of it we are drenched in sweat. A really interesting place to visit and a great trip out.
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anonymous
non-member comment
wow you gtuys brilliant ,, thanks for sharing your journey ,, you should do your own lonly planet nicola