Viet Cong tunnels, motorbikes and guns!

---

I am now in Vietnam, I've actually left Ho Chi Minh city now but that's for another blog entry...

We had a gruelling 8 hour bus journey to get to HCM City (formally Saigon) and it was like arriving on another planet! This city is just huge, we were driving through what seemed like the centre for over an hour before we actually got to the centre! 10 million people live here and I am not exaggerating when I say it feels like every single one of them rides a motorbike at top speed round the streets. There are pedestrian crossings (for what they are worth) but you just have to look straight ahead (look sideways and you'd cry), hold you arm out in front and walk, It's like Moses parting the seas, terrifying and strangely addictive too, you just don't get the same buzz from a green man!

We had quite a few free days here as one tour ended and another began, we sadly lost a few great group members but picked up 2 girls from Aus and an American family instead.

A few of us wandered the city, soaking up the crazy atmosphere and enjoying the great coffee, ice cream and cakes (think I will be putting the weight I lost in Cambodia straight back on!). The city is incredibly Eurpoean in feeling, of course from it's French past. The Hotel de Ville wouldn't look out of place in Calais! The other big difference to Cambodia was the wealth. We found actual department stores selling (genuine) labels we recognised, supermarkets and one street with Louis Viutton, Prada, Gucci etc on it! The HCM City inhabitants love to flash their cash!

One of the more somber sights in the city was the War Remnants Museum (formally known as the The Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes with the occasional reference to the American Devils!) which was a disturbing insight into the impact the war had on the country, and sadly it is still having an impact with many babies being born deformed due to the chemical weapins used by the Americans. It was another upsetting reminder of this areas turbulent past.

On our last day we did a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels. These are an extremely complex network of over 250km of tunnels used by the Viet Cong to hide from the Americans. They had secret entrances from the river, kitchens with smoke pipes over 50 metres away and lots of traps for intruders! They have widened a portion for the fat westerners to crawl throught which was fun and I got to shoot an M16, just because I could really, quite scary and exhilirating having that kind of power in your hands!

The documentary we watched at the start of the trip to the tunnels was made by the Vietnamese in the 70s about the area and made statements such was "Din killed over 16 of the evil American devils and was awarding the medal and prize for being American Killing Hero" which made watching it with the American family both amusing and a little uncomfortable!

We left HCMC on our first night train, in four sleeper cabins with sort of air con. It was exciting but the novelty soon wore off when I couldn't sleep! We are getting another one tonight but I am getting ahead of myself, will write again soon

Amy x x x

---