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Published: August 12th 2007
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Tunnel Rat
This was one of the few tunnels which were the actual size used during the war. First of all, apologies that our previous blogs are not currently viewable, this is due to technical problems with Travel Blog, we are trying to fix it as soon as possible.
Second thing is, if you know of anyone not receiving the email alerts, it could be one of 2 things: 1) Due to the recent technical problems Travel Blog has had, or 2) Travel Blog emails have not been added to the safe list of your email account and therefore the emails are being blocked. We will also try to email everyone about this.
Now, back to the trip...
Not a lot to say about Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) itself, very big and very busy and to be honest we spent most of our time in the backpacker area of De Tham/Bui Vien. We did however go on some very cool trips, and we did see the Jade Emporer Pagoda.
Our first trip was to the Cu Chi Tunnels 70 kilometers outside the city. The Cu Chi Tunnels are a series of underground tunnels first constructed by the Viet Minh against the French and then used more extensively by the Viet Cong guerrilla fighters against
the Americans. The network is about 200 km long in total and comprises underground hospitals, meeting rooms, living/sleeping areas, mini-arms factories and kitchens. People were living in the tunnels for up to 10 years, during which time they only ate a form of sweet potato which we tried. It was nice, but wouldn't want to live on it solely for 10 years! We went in the tunnels which were small, but they were actually 3 times the size they were originally.
We followed this up with an afternoon trip to the War Remnants Museum in the city. To be honest, we weren't expecting the shock that was to come, at points we were both close to tears. It is a brilliant museum, and a bit more balanced than the ones we went to in Hanoi, which made it all the more harrowing. It went through all the various worst aspects of the Vietnam War, and crucially the ongoing consequences of it. After viewing the War Photographer's gallery (which actually showed many American soldiers in a very good light), we came to the worst part... the section of the museum devoted to the highly toxic dioxin defoliant Agent Orange. Words
can barely describe the pictures of the children we saw deformed and mutated by this horrible invention, children who are still suffering and being born today, over 30 years after the war ended. They have not received 1 cent of compensation from either the American Government or the chemical companies who created Agent Orange, even though American GIs have been compensated $180,000,000! There are thousands upon thousands of these poor kids, mostly being born into the poorest families who can't afford care or treatment. This is a disgusting situation! The main reason we have devoted so much of this blog to this is because of the lack of awareness and the desperately poor coverage by our supposedly "free media". Then there was the photographic evidence and confessions of American GIs attrocities against the Vietnamese, including the wholesale slaughter of families including women and children, such as the Thanh Phong Massacre committed partly by a former US Senator!
The next day we chilled out and saw the Pagoda, before heading off on our 2 day trip to the Mekong Delta...
We made our first stop at Unicorn Island where we were fed and watered and then whisked off to
Underground armament factory
The Viet Cong used to hide and funnel the smoke that came from their kitchen's, so that it would come out right next to a stream or river, the Americans would see the smoke and bomb, thinking the Viet Cong were living there. Some of the bombs would then drop in the water and not explode, the guerrillas would then retrieve the bombs, cut them up and use the explosives. Pretty clever! a Coconut Candy Factory (bamboo hut in the middle of a rice paddy) going through little tributaries and canals on rowing boats. The scenery was cool, and something completely different to what we've so far seen. After a bike ride around the island, we stopped at a bee farm to try some honey tea and honey wine which gave us the courage to hold a python around our necks! The highlight or our Mekong trip was the remote homestay with a Viet family, we made our way there by boat at night and saw fire flies. We met our lovely family and the little girl "Chan" immediately took to Kirstie, drawing her pictures and playing cards. The dinner we had was amazing, fish straight out of the Mekong, cooked to perfection. Probably the best meal we've had so far. After a great nights sleep on our concrete bed (literally) we got up at 5am to visit the rice paddys before we left. The 2nd day was mostly spent on a boat looking at floating markets and then checking out a thrilling rice factory!
We arrived back in the city in the evening and had dinner and some drinks with 2
Kirstie in the tunnels
These were the tunnels which had been enlarged. cool english guys from our homestay, Karl and Darren. It was good for Paul to talk football!!
P.S. - We haven't put photos of the Agent Orange children on here due to copyright as they are all photographs at the museum.
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