adventures above and below ground in Saigon

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Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon to anyone who has spent more than one day there is a city on two wheels. When crossing the road it feels like all of the city's 4 million motorbikes are competing with you for road space. Rights of way are a mystery to outsiders but might is right in that the pecking order has the biggest vehicles taking precedence while pedestrians are right at the bottom of the food chain.

As a major base for the Americans in the Vietnam war, Saigon's war museum holds nothing back when it shows in graffic detail the results of American bombs and the effect that Agent Orange is still having today.

A short journey outside the capital takes you to the Cu Chi tunnels and shows how the Viet Cong survived using networks of tunnels that stretched for many miles. As the attached video shows I have demonstrated little ability to be a subtarannean dweller and while equipped with bedrooms, factories, meeting rooms and kitchens I can't imagine how difficult it would be to live under these circumstances.

In comparison to other Asian countries where Buddist monks abound, religion is not prominant in today's Vietnam however the Cao Dai religion which is unique to Vietnam seems to have hedged its bets by combining, Christianty, with Buddhism, Hinduism and a sprinkle of Confucianism.

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Photos

Cao Dai priests
The different colours represent different religions