Blogs from Cu Chi, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 4

Today was a day in which I learnt alot. Today we got up at 6:00 in the morning, got ready and ate a breakfast of 2 boiled eggs with juice by 6:45. We went down stairs to be escorted by our escort to the port. Once we got to the port we had to wait a bit because 2 people hadn't arrived. When everyone had finally arrived, we got on the boat to start our 1.5 hour trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, this is where the Vitnamese dug tunnels to protect themselves from the American bombs. it was an underground village connected by networks of tunnels. it consisted of bedrooms, kitchen, hiding rooms, bunkers, oxygen tunnels and water rooms but no "happy stations" (that's how they refer to toilets here), if you needed to go ... read more

hey guys, these pictures are from our tour at Ch Chi tunnels, they were very cool! Here is some info about them we found on the computer: The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. The tunnels were used... read more

Cu Chi Tunnels I was wondering how I could choose which travel agent to book through as they were all over the place and there were a gazillion of them. Realized later on, that it was best to ask your hotel. The owner of our hotel, Mr. Ly (Guest House is called Ly, so I am guessing that’s his name and he didn’t speak much English) was very helpful and booked us for a half day trip to Cu Chi for usd 5 each, although he had to call his son of 12 yrs to deal with us as he didn’t speak much English. Early morning I had to get up even though I probably am the worst person to get up early, feeling quite grumpy. Came down to the lobby and saw few other people ... read more

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is a huge metropolis of constantly flowing and honking motorbikes, tall buildings and vendors. People do everything on the sidewalk here. You see people cooking, eating, washing dishes, fixing motorbikes, cutting hair, sleeping. Even though the city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the war and there’s a huge statue of Ho Chi Minh in the center, everyone still calls the city Saigon. Must do's in Saigon include Fanny Ice Cream, the Ben Thanh Market and one of the many roof top bars. If you have a stomach for war images, I hear the War Museum has plenty. Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam but it’s not the capital and in the past it wasn’t part of Vietnam. The population grew dramatically during the war because the city was ... read more

The Cu Chi district of Saigon was infiltrated with a massive tunnel system that extended over many hundreds of square kilometers during the American war. It was the Vietnamese response to US air power. The Americans used repeated B52 bombing campaigns and turned the entire area, just 30 KM from their main Saigon air base, into a waste land, but to no avail. The three levels of tunnels ended up at the Saigon river, which served as the last refuge for guerrillas when ever the Americans put tear gas into the tunnels. The tunnels were brilliantly engineered and disguised. Bamboo poles located every 10 meters served as air shafts and were disguised as termite hills on the surface. Cooking smoke was directed 100 meters away from the cooking bunkers to disguise the source. Over 10,000 guerrillas ... read more