Cu Chi Tunnels and Cooking Meat

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Today, our last day in HCMC, we took a 1/2 day trip to the famous Cu Chi tunnels. An undergound network of tunnels used by the VC during the Vietnam war. The tunnels are about an hour and a half away from the city, but fortunatly we had a hilarious tour guide to keep us entertained for the majority of the drive there. Only a small portion of the tunnels is open to tourists, as the entire network of tunnels covers approximatly 250 square kilometers. The first thing I noticed about the tunnels is how ridiculously small they are. The are only 3 of 4 feet high by about 3 feet wide. Except when they open up into underground rooms or chambers. Thankfully, most of our short trips into the tunnels were only 10 or so metres long. However, we did one section that was 120 meters long. 17 of us were making our way through narrow passageways, around bends, and down poorly made staircases in the dark. By the time we all got out we were exhausted and dirty, luckily, a well placed souvenir stand was at the exit to sell us all cold drinks. Before we entered any of the tunnels we were treated to a film about the tunnels that was made in 1967. It was an entertaining war propaganda film. The tour occupied us until 2 or 3 o'clock and we just spent the rest of the day lounging around. Looking through our Let's Go guide I found a restaurant where you get to cook your own slices of beef, just the thought of it excited me and I had to go.

According to the map the restaurant was about 1.5 km away from where we're staying so we opted to walk, ignoring the constant barrage of motorcycle and cyclo drivers eager for a fare. Walking in HCMC is an adventure in it's own, you have to constanly forget your natural instincts and walk right into insanely busy traffic. This is something I'd never think of doing at home, but is something you have to do here, and because of all the motorbike traffic makes the whole process feasable. As long as you walk at a slow steady pace the traffic will go around you. So it works, but it's still scary at time. Anways, we made it to the restaurant after passing the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which looked really cool. However I forgot my camera, dammit.

At the restaurant, whose name I forget, I ordered the sliced beef dish, whose Vietnamese name is also the same as the name of the restaurant, and Coral ordered some Grilled Chicken. A little while later my plate of raw meat came, soaking in a marinade. And a few minute later they brought a coal buring fire to the table for me to cook the meat on. The whole experience was fun and delicious, something I've always wanted to do. Corals food didn't come, so we figured that it would come after we finished the meat, so we split the beef and were going to split her chicken. After we finished all the beef we were both stuffed, and a few minutes later her chicken came, which turned out to be an entire chicken. Way too much food for either of us to even contemplate eating at the time, so we asked for it to go. Luckily, this afternoon we were moved to a different, better room. I think they needed our room for some guests arriving tomorrow or something, so they moved us to a more expensive room but we get it at the rate we were paying for the other one. Anyways, it has a fridge, so we have somewhere to keep the chicken. So that'll probably be breakfast before our bus ride to Da Lat tomorrow. That brings me to now. I'm going to grab a can of Orangina and head up to our room. Pictures are now going up for this entry and the last one.

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Photos

Cu Chi Tunnels
The entrance to one of the tunnels.

Cu Chi Tunnels
A guide showing us a small hidden entrance to a fighting bunker.

Cu Chi Tunnels
Some VC traps