Cu Chi tunnels

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Yesterday we decided to go on a half day tour to the Cu Chi tunnels to learn about the Vietnam war. Our tour guide was a 70 year old war veteran named Sunny who spoke 4 languages and was extremely knowledgable. The drive to the tunnel was around an hour and a half which was a great way to see the other districts and the rural parts of Ho Chi Minh City - which was previously called Saigon. We went through a few districts and found out that there is no district 13 as 13 is a unlucky number and is taken very seriously here. We were wondering why there is a 12th and 14th floor in our hotel but no 13th!

When we stepped out of the air conditioned car we instantly started sweating in the 35 degree heat. Sunny lead us to the first part of the tour where we sat in a dug out underground hut to watch a short clip about the war and how the tunnels were used to hide from the Americans (the enemy). The tunnels are dug deep under ground with multiple levels and routes. They lead to underground rooms which are laid out side by side, one room for a meeting area, the second for the hospital, the third for the kitchen and the fourth for supplies such as food, water and ammunition. A tunnel would also lead to a river or another escaping area.

We were able to go through a lot of the tunnels that still exist and see the air holes and the escaping routes. The tunnels are so tiny because of how small the Vietnamese people are. Matt and I struggled getting through some of them! We we were also shown the different sort of traps that were made for the Americans who were on foot, such as sharp bamboo traps where there is a hidden dug out pit with sharp bamboo sticks sticking up out of the ground which would seriously injure you if you fell into it. When we were half way through we had the option of shooting a couple of the old guns that were used in the war, we shot 10 rounds in a M16 rifle and an AK47 which was rather exciting for both of us!

A lot of what we saw yesterday is hard to explain properly so will also post pics.

When we finished the tour we were starving from walking in the crazy heat all day so went down the road from our hotel and stopped at a random dining place where no one spoke English and everything in the menu was in Vietnamese. We ended up having to point to pictures on the wall to order food! I still have absolutely no idea what meat I had in my noodle soup- for all I know it was cat- so I avoided eating the meat but overall it was delicious. We also got a beer each and some dumplings and all together it cost $9 for the both of us!

After our meal we decide to find some random bars to have a couple of drinks! We sat chatting to a couple of Australian tourists which was fun and while we were sitting outside we had a few young 5 or 6 year old girls coming right up to us asking if we wanted to buy anything out of the baskets they were holding.. Selling bracelets and bags and glasses etc, they were so so cute it was so hard to say no! I ended up buying a little bracelets because I felt too bad saying no! After that bar we went to another bar down the road which was really busy and we ended up getting a few drinks and sheesha inside which is completely normal (people smoke inside Often). There was a big group of locals who pulled us over to dance with them which was so much fun! We stayed there with them all night!

Was an excellent second day being immersed in the culture here.

Today we didn't do too much just wandered around but for dinner we had the most amazing meal! We had crispy fried rice, delicious beef noodles with vegetables, grilled goat, and fried frog! The frog was my fav, soooo tasty 😊

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Comments

[Treg]

fantastic day!
Wow, looks like a great day. Enjoying the blog so far & looking forward to the next entry. That frog looks HUGE, good on you for trying it.