HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City)

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After a nice 7 hour bus ride and two ferry crossings, we arrived to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The ferry crossings are pretty interesting. Basically everyone on the bus has to get off and walk onto the ferry, but there are so many motorbikes, you have to nearly push them over to get past the bikes and get a spot. HCMC is a pretty modern city. There are more motorbikes than any other city i've ever seen. It seems like mass chaos whenever I see anyone driving, but somehow few accidents ever happen. There aren't really any road rules here, and to cross an intersection you don't wait for traffic to break, (because it never happens) you just have to look directly ahead of you and walk and somehow bikes move out of the way for you. Yesterday was a free day, so Lauren and I just kind of relaxed. We had vietamese coffee at a little cafe and ate lunch. I think I am becoming addicted to the way that coffee is prepared here. You get your own personal drip machine, and then it is served with condensed milk. Yummy! We went to the Reunification Palace, where the war ended in 1975. Lauren and I had trouble figuring out exactly what we were supposed to be looking at, because nothing was in English. Lots of other Asian tourists were taking pictures though so we figured it must have been important. We also had a group meeting to introduce two new members to our group. The trip is technically split into two 9 day segments, so we had two aussies join the group. They seem nice, but are chain smokers and had to get up 3 times during our 1.5 hour dinner. Today we met at 830 and left for the Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels were pretty interesting. It is hard to believe that an entire city lived underground for 6 years during the war. There was a chance to crawl through the tunnels, so I crawled on my hands and knees underground for about 1/2 hour. Really makes you feel claustrophobic, even though I never get that way. The tunnels were so narrow that you couldn't turn around, you had to crawl backwards to reverse. The tunnels used gecko huts above ground to allow air to reach the tunnels. Not exactly my piece of cake. We watched a very non PC video on American killer heroes during the war and saw some pretty one-sided information regarding the war. It is hard for me to figure out exactly how to feel in this country. Phoung, our guide, kept assuring us that this is in the past, and the buddhist way of life only looks at today and not yesterday. However seeing some of these displays makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. After lunch, we went on a cyclo (bike rickshaw) tour of the city. We stopped by the War Remnants museum, which had again another one sided display of the "Amerian Imperialists". Tomorrow we leave for Hoi An. We have a flight to Da Nang, and then drive to Hoi An. We get to stop by China beach, which should be nice. I will be in Hoi An I believe two nights, before continuing to head up the vietnam coast. I've gotta run so I can catch House on tv here!

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Comments

[Granny]

Sad history
I understand your mixed emotions . Hard to imagine you crawling in the tunnel . Your blog is so descriptive. Keep on writing. Granny