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Published: June 22nd 2006
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Tuesday 20th June Paul - Another of those damn tours which meant another early start! We had to be at the bus stop for 8am! We only missed the sun rise by 2 whole hours.
Arrived at the place where the bus was supposed to pick us up from and waited for an age, nothing unusual there. A guy from the cafe where we had booked the tour approached us and asked us where we were going today...
"Cu Chi. We're off to the Cu Chi tunnels."
"No, we don't have a tour running there today!"
"Errr, I think you do. We've got the receipt here."
"Oh....right... I was only joking."
He fakes a laugh.
"Ok well the bus will be here in 20 minutes."
With that lovely exchange over, off he went to phone around tour companies to try and fit us on their tour. Fantastic start!
After a customary drive around the city for half an hour (probably to wake the driver up) we were told by our soon to be legendary tour guide that we would be stopping soon. He assured us it would all be free and that it was
because Cu Chi would be very very busy at the moment. We would be stopping at a place where "handicapped" people were making works of art. I immediately had my doubts, if it's anything like Lisa's art classes then best to take some goggles in case of flying paint. Not to mention flying expletives (classic Lisa quote "don't use those bloody expletives !!!")
The art work was quite good but we didn't pay to stop here so was quite frustrating. Basically a tourist trap to try and get you to part with your money by feeling sorry for the exploited disabled people. Obviously Laura and I were disapproving of the whole thing.
Back on the bus we headed to Cu Chi. Quick bit of history, the Cu Chi tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the war. The tunnel system was over 250km long and enabled the Viet Cong to hide from and launch surprise attacks on the evil Americans. The tunnels were the focus of heavy US carpet bombings and left most of the area devasted. They dropped more bombs here than in the whole of World War II!!!
First stop on our tour was
a tiny hole in the ground which was used as an entrance to the tunnel. You could climb in the hole and I duly obliged. Let me just say what a tight fit it was! There would be no way I would be able to fit into it. Our guide then explained a few of the traps used by the Viet Cong in the Cu Chi area and then showed us a few of them. They were pretty horrific. He saved the best for last though. When the American soldiers came into villages, if they went through the wrong door a set of spikes would swing down and impale them. Not content with that, a second set would come down and impale them in their groinal area! His exact description,
"You see this bit, swing down this way. And we used to say to them, you lady boy now. They turned them into Lady boys, you know what I mean?!"
After a hearty round of laughs (should we be laughing!?) he took us past lots of bomb craters and blown up tanks. Then we had a chance to go shooting! With live bullets! So Laura picked up an
AK-47 and started blowing targets away no problem. You should have seen this girl go. She even proclaimed, "I'm moving to the US of A where guns are legal baby! I love guns!"
Yeah so obviously we didn't shoot the guns. Our Yanky Doodly Doo "friends" did though (of course). All the Brits went and got some ice cream instead.
So next was the main event. Well our tour guide built it up like that. The tunnels themselves. I was looking forward to this but apparently the first set had been enlarged to accomodate us fatty westerners. Headed down into the tunnels and the first thing that struck me was mild claustrophobia. The tunnels only measured 90cm by 60cm and they were the large ones. Laura spotted a HUGE spider (more to the point, when DOESN'T she spot a huge spider!?!? Answers on a post card to the usual address) and moved a little faster. We were basically squatting down and shuffling along. It was pretty good fun although it's hard to imagine being down here for months at a time with little food to eat. We came out after about 100 metres and our tour guide said
the second section was the real deal. Only 75cm by 50cm! And it got tighter than that at some points! Well I wasn't going to pass up a challenge! Laura didn't want to go down again, traumatised by the spider incident.
So off I went, into the unknown. Just me and my random friend who had a flash light. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, no lights in this bit of the tunnels! As soon as I got in I could hardly move and I had to get down on my front and crawl along. Coupled with the fact that you couldn't see it was a very exciting and scary experience. I don't know how the Viet Cong could live like this for so long.
So that was the Cu Chi tunnels. Really enjoyed the day and was very informative and interesting. It was cool to see the surrounding area of Cu Chi, the jungle area, as it was just like in the films.
Headed back to the hotel and booked our 3 days, 2 nights tour of the Mekong Delta. And now had another English class to teach! Apparently I would be singing and dancing again
according to Mr Lee... great...
We presented the school with a huge World Map from us all, Lauren and Pete picked it up earlier that day, and had our pictures taken. They were very grateful and they had bought us presents too! Not to mention paying for our accomodation for two nights. They had hearts of gold at the school.
I taught some advanced kids in the first session this time. It was really good fun and I wish we had found out about this school when we first arrived in Ho Chi Minh. I basically set my own lesson up and asked them questions about paragraphs I would read out.
After the break I took the little ones again. And yes, there was singing. And yes, there was dancing. Don't laugh, I'm still cool!
Went back to the hotel and fell straight asleep. Unfortunately Lauren has caught a food bug so she is really sick at the moment. Obviously the alarm was set for 2am and England were on. A better game, excitement wise, but England were seriously poor. I struggled to name a clean cut chance that they created. Anyway it doesn't matter as
they are through now. We have a bus to catch at 7am so straight back to sleep for us.
Just to answer a few comments:
Spongebob Square pants is a cracking show Thomas. Well worth a view while Laura messes about in the shower (what does she do in there for half an hour each morning?)
Dad, remember, when was the last time big Micky B washed that car? Think of the filth!
Mark, get on with your work and stop reading the blog.
Catherine, you should be working too. Those kids will be starving if you don't do your job.
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I agree with Katie, why do you keep visiting zoos - there must be far more interesting things to do than visit different zoos - boring at the best of times - ok the pandas were gorgeous but they were different - I hope you are soon feeling better Laura - make sure you drink plenty of fluid and be careful what you do eat. By the way the car wash saga has started - thanks a bunch Paul.