Blogs from Cu Chi, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 3

We woke up at 5:30 am, in a mad rush to get to the tunnels before the tourists. We had decided to visit Ben Dinh and not Ben Duoc tunnels. Ben Dinh, sadly, is not part of the original networks, but made just for tourism and education (of course they pretend it's real when you visit). Ben Duoc is more remote and part of the original system, and includes a memorial temple. We decided to visit Ben Dinh because of two practicalities: there are no maps, road descriptions, or indications anywhere as to how to get to Ben Duoc, and judging by how long it took us to find the right road to Cu Chi, we thought we would spend most of the day tring to find it. The other point was the temple in Ben ... read more

6/00 vstavam,teda budi ma ten debil,normalne ma zacal chytat okolo pasu.buzerant zasrany.Uzaj vstavam,balim sa as a idem prec.CS co vietname uplna katastrofa,v thajsku serem tiez na to. Idem hladat hotel,je ale moc skoro,cekujem ceny,hostel v dorem za 7USD asi tam pojdem,bo izby su od 10USD hore.Zistujem aj Cu Chi tunely,v prvej za 6USD,v dalsej za 105kD,odchod za 45 min.Berem to.Aspon mi prejde cas.batoh nechavam v cestovke.idem na rychle ranajky. Po jedle cakam na bus v cestovke.V cestovke fasujem 0.3l vodu,v buse dalsiu 0.3l vodu.Zbytocne som si kupoval 2x1.5l,cul to musim vlacit.Sprievodca je priemerny,na MJ z My Son nema.Cesta k tunelom trva 2 hodiny,mame este pispauzu.Zasa su rozdielne ceny vstupneho,cudzinci za 90kd,japonci,francuzi,australcania za menej a domaci za minimum.Fakt ma toto vytaca.Kupujeme si listky v kase.Pri vstupe este dostavam nalepku na rameno. A sme tam... read more

The bus journeys and time spent on the road is getting easier & easier. The bus ride from Phnom Penh, Cambodia through to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam was 8 hours including a stopover at the border to have our passports stamped. The process was seamless. Hand your passport to one of the assistants on the bus, receive a departure stamp, get off the bus on the Vietnam side of the border for another stamp and checking of your baggage, then proceed to your destination. Our arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) marked a change in our vulnerability. We had the usual heckles from taxi drivers as we stepped foot of the bus. Having no idea where our bus had docked, we decided to show a taxi driver our hotel address and he agreed to take ... read more

We took the hour and a half bus ride to the Cu Chi Tunnels, they're located 30 kms from Ho Chi Minh City. It is an area where the Viet Cong lived. They dug tunnels to live in to protect themselves during the 1960s/ 70's war with America. The tunnels stretch for for over 200 kms as far as the Cambodian border. The Viet cong set many traps to stop the American soldiers and thus the Americans were unable to flush them out so they turned their artillery and bombers on the area, transforming it to a moonscape. Some of the tunnels have been preserved and visitors are able to get into the narrow openings, the tunnels are accessed by trapdoors hidden on the jungle floor. They were an ingenious system that included living quarters, hospitals ... read more

Today the 3 Amigo's head to Tay Ninh to visit the quite South Vietnamese people for those in Cao Dai Sm - This is a unique religion that you might never expect to encounter, arriving in time for its noon time prayer service, you enjoy peculiar hymns with followers attired in brightly coloured gowns (red, yellow, blue and white). The colourful painted 3D sculptures adorn the many pillars both within and outside the temple with its unusual shaped roof, while inside looking down down the long hall you see a most impressive brass ball with the all seeing eye. This occult practices from Taoism, theories of karma and rebirth from Buddhism, and a hierarchical organization (including a pope) from Roman Catholicism. Well worth the visit. Next stop, was the underground villagea Ben Dinh in Cu Chi ... read more