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Published: November 28th 2010
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We arrived in Ho Chi Min city after an uncomfortable and long 13 hour journey across the border, only to be bombarded with hotel touts and motorbike taxi's, all wanting our business. We decided to grab some lunch before heading to a guest house called “My Home.” It was really nice, despite being up 6 flights of stairs with no lift, but at least they carried our heavy backpacks for us.
We didn't do much the first night as we were tired from our long journey and it started to rain so we ordered a takeaway pizza and watched a film.
The next morning we were woken at 7 o'clock by the sound of drilling, which was so loud it felt like they were in the room with us, and that was even with ear plugs! The hot water was also not working so we decide to move hotels. The family who owned the guest house took us to there other hotel across the road, which was just as nice but free from the sound of construction work and had fully functioning hot water. We headed out for a late breakfast and then made our way to the War
Museum. It was cool posing next to some of the U.S Army tanks, helicopters and planes but quite disturbing to see lots of photos of the Vietnamese victims of the war and Agent Orange and the various torture techniques that were used. We looked round for a few hours until we were kicked out at 5pm for closing time.
On the way back to the guest house it was now rush hour and there was a mass of traffic on the roads. 90% of the vehicles were motorbikes and scooters and they took over the whole street, including the pavements. We've never seen anything quite like it. When there was gridlock on the roads drivers tried to take a short cut by dodging around pedestrians, which then caused traffic jams on the pavement!!
On the evening we had a lovely Western meal at a posh restaurant called WE which was pretty expensive for Asia, but definitely worth it. Sometimes even backpackers need a break from rice and noodles.
The next morning we got up early for our trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels (an underground village created by the Viet Cong to protect families from American Soldiers
during the Vietnam War) It's unbelievable how tiny the entrances are and they have even been made bigger for the benefit of the larger western tourists. We both had a go at squeezing into one of the hidden entrance holes and then we were able to walk (or crawl) through one of the tunnel networks. A number of the underground rooms had been dug out so that tourists could view them more easily, especially for those who are claustrophobic. It's amazing to think they lived under here for years and they had hospitals, schools, kitchens, weapon caches and living quarters buried below the ground. We also got to try some typical Viet Cong food that they ate three times a day, a potato like vegetable mixed with nuts, not the most flavoursome dish. After being shown some of the different hidden traps they used to injure and kill the American soldiers, we also tried our hand at shooting an AK47. There were many other guns to choose from including a machine gun and M16 but the ammunition was a bit pricier.
On the way home we visited an arts and crafts factory for victims of the Agent Orange attacks
during the war. Many of the workers had been born with deformities or disabilities as a result of the Americans dropping chemical bombs on thier parents, which can then continue to affect several generations. We had a quick look around and then headed back to the hotel for some lunch and to chill for a bit before getting ready for a Saturday night out on the town.
We ended up napping for longer than we intended and didn't end up going out until 9.45, which meant nowhere was serving any food. Even KFC closed before 10 o'clock, Everything shuts early in Vietnam. We thought we had found a posh restaurant but it turned out to be a trendy nightclub full of young and rich Vietnamese. We decided to just have a liquid dinner which consisted of beer and cocktails however the drinks were really expensive and we didn't expect to be charged 10% extra for tax and a further 10% service charge to be served at the bar! We paid more for two drinks than we have for most meals, not surprisingly we only stayed for one. Luckily we stumbled across another little rock bar around the corner which
was about 5 times cheaper so got merry there instead. We ended up in a “Walkabout” style club called Apoclypse Now and stayed here until we were chucked out about 3am. By now we were starving and the only option we had was a dodgy street café (plastic kids chairs and tables on the side of the pavement) where we both had crispy noodles which were surprisingly good! (Mind you, everything tastes good when you're drunk) We met a nice lad from New Zealand who we chatted to for an hour or so before stumbling back to the hotel.
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