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Published: October 9th 2008
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Ev bo 8 secs
After exploring Hoi An we headed south for Ho Chi Minh City also known as Saigon. Although the north and south are united you tend to sense a bit of seperation when coming this far south. The people here call this city Saigon (as they did in the old days) whereas those from the north call it by the new name Ho Chi Minh City in honor of Uncle Ho. The differences don't stop there and tend to center around poltics. As many of the southern citizens were put into reeducation camps after the war you can understand why there might be some bitterness still there.
After making our way into town, searching all afternoon for a hotel we finally got settled in a guesthouse where our room was a 5 floor walkup. The city is hectic and full of people selling stuff, motorbikes (about 4 milliion of them) and people (about 9 million).
On our first day we headed for the Cu Chi Tunnels on our very own private tour. These tunnels were home to the Cu Chi people during the Vietnam War. As there home was in the south many would assume they were on the side
of the Republicans and Americans however this wasn't the case. While the Vietnam War divided the country in two the Cu Chi people wanted their own territory. American bombs quickly made enemies of the Cu Chi people. When you visit the tunnels anti American sentiment is everywhere. So even though they were based in the South the Cu Chi people joined the North in fighting against the Republicans and America to preserve their own culture and land. The villagers united and built an underground world as they were too vulnerable and easily defeated on the surface.
The tunnels, situated at the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail (which ran from the North deep into southern territory), stretched some 250kms from Cu Chi to Saigon and ever expanded during the war. Their entire lives were underground which is just unimaginable. We had a chance to go down into the tunnels (which have been expanded so foreigners can fit!) and just 10 feet was enough for me to feel claustrophobic and stiffled. The heat and stillness in the tunnels is just unbearable and to think people lived for years there. In the end something like 4,000 of the 12,000 Cu
Chi people survived and many American and Republican men were lost. After the war it was discovered that the Americans were so close that they actually built one of their bases over the top of the tunnel system. The tunnels played a big part in the war against the Republicans/Americans and was contributed to the withdrawl of troops from Vietnam.
We explored the fox holes, tunnels, saw the traps used against their enemies all through the sound of gunfire, quite creepy. Our next stop was the firing range. The range allows those willing (boys mostly!) to fire AK47s, M16s, M60s etc at a target about 500 feet away. As one of the only places in the world where a civilian can fire these weapons Ev had 10 shots on the M60 machine gun and 5 shots on the AK47. 15 shots later Ev was very happy and we were all nearly deaf. I can't imagine how war must sound close up and hope I never know!
Our explorations continued in Saigon itself with a visit to the War Remnants Museum, the Reunification Palace and a few local markets.
The War Remnants Museum was very moving and showed
the devasation of war through mines, bombs, chemical warfare including agent orange, war through photographs etc. While there we ran into the Top Gear guys. Now this might not mean a lot to many of you but Ev and I were regular Top Gear viewers in the UK and it was quite cool to see the guys in person. They took our attention for the day as we dropped their name into quite a few conversations and the theme song was stuck in our heads for good.
Anyway Saigon was lovely, very busy and the people seem more friendly now that we are in the South (and thankfully they are ripping us off less). Catching the bus to Cambodia tomorrow and 12 hours later we should be in Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor Wat.
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