Today was our visit to the Cu ChinTunnels which I’ve been looking forward to from the time when we booked this trip. We got sorted and got our breakfast and coffee from over the roundabout and got picked up on time.
Went though the city collecting other people and we had quite a full coach by the time we’d got everyone, but it was a smaller 20 seater.
The guide today was a lad called Bao, he was very good indeed, very energetic and informative with loads of stories that he said were personal from his uncle. Must admit, the way he spoke I felt as though he was very anti-American and the angle of his stories continued in that vein. I didn’t mind, and the Americans on the coach didn’t seem to understand and were so in awe of the ingenuity of the VC soldiers. I had to remind Tash that it was like admiring the Nazi’s!
Although from my perspective without any involvement by the British in the war it’s not an issue so we could appreciate it. And it was clever and fascinating. And the way Bao kept referring to the Vietnamese guerrillas as ‘we’ kept confusing Tash.
Anyway, we stopped at a village that has crafts made by disabled people, and all these people are directly affected by the US use of chemical weapons in the war, specifically Agent Orange, that I was reading about in the War Remnants museum yesterday.
The crafts they were making were lacquered wood with eggshells and mother of pearl making up the pictures. They were fantastic and beautiful but they were bloody expensive. We were tempted but quite simply they were too much money, we’d have loved to contribute and also have one of these items but it was too much sadly.
We moved on and stopped at the Cu Chi Tunnels along with countless other coaches! Quite clearly this is the number 1 tourist attraction to tick off when visiting Saigon. Oh, forgot to mention, they prefer to call it Saigon instead of Ho Chi Minh City, so I’ll try and remember to do the same now!! Bao explained why, it’s to do with the central districts and moving out of the city.
That aside, he walked us through various parts that were set up in the grounds and he was experienced enough to move on when it was too busy knowing we’d return when quieter.
I loved it. These were genuine tunnels and forest that fighting and living took place in. It was fascinating learning how the Vietcong worked, lived and fought. Including the traps and hiding their scent against sniffer dogs and even the size of the tunnels and openings.
There was a firing range that you could have a go in, we didn’t, but the firing of the weapons and noise coming through the forest made the atmosphere even better. Except when we walked through the range and the firing was incredibly loud. Deafening!
We then got to crawl through a tunnel system, there were differing lengths and we did the 100 metres one, I was last and a bit slow so was on my own for much of it and it wasn’t pleasant. Felt a bit anxious about getting a wrong turn, but it wasn’t possible and one stage it really narrowed.
There was also a photo opp to go into a hole and hide, that was tight even though they’d increased the size for us tourists.
And that was it. A really interesting and absorbing experience, I’m really glad we did it and Tash enjoyed it too.
More stories on the way back and some sleep and then jumped off the bus at the first stop as I recognised it as close to our hotel and got showered and changed and emptied my bag and something was missing…where were my headphones??? I’d taken them as I knew it was a long journey and planned to use them but hadn’t in the end but they were nowhere. We’d been told to leave our bags on the coach as they’d not be needed and it would be locked.
I was so very pissed off and ‘knew’ they’d not fallen out and the driver had swiped them. I fired off emails and I knew the Kim Travel offices were nearby so marched to those. I’ve had them a long time and would have to write them off and get new ones but I couldn’t believe it.
So at the offices the girl phoned Bao and he in turn phoned the coach and after 10 mins got a call back, they’d been found “at the back of the coach”. Obviously I was absolutely delighted and relieved. I didn’t believe for one moment that was true but I was getting them back in about 2 hours time. Thank goodness for that.
So we carried on walking with some places in mind and Tash stopped by a jewellers and got her chain fixed and we headed towards the Exco tower by the river. It just gets busier and busier with respect to the towns we travel to.
We stopped by a sports bar and had a drink and then headed back towards Kim Travel offices and did some shopping and thankfully when we went to the travel office the headphones were correct. I could have cried!! So relieved. I love those headphones.
Back to the hotel briefly to get cleaned up and then off in another direction and found a really nice Indian restaurant and after that went to the Beer Garden pub we’ve seen. That was so busy with locals celebrating something and we had a couple of beers and got the cards out. This, for some reason, caused a lot of amusement with the staff. They kept pointing and chatting and laughing. Not quite sure why, they didn’t explain!
It wasn’t a late night and we went back and got sorted for heading off tomorrow. Really enjoyed today, the tunnels were so interesting and the experience was worth it, not a let down at all.
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