Vietnam – Day 14 – Day trip to Cu Chi Tunnels
Today I rented a scooter an drove to the Cu Chi tunnels. But last night we had some drama in our dormitory that kept a bunch of us up late.
The Aussie girl in the top bunk came home over the top wasted. A friend who she was drinking with helped her up into her bunk. After about 15 minutes I heard the creak of her climbing down and then “thud”. She fell. Then she left the room to go to the bathroom. I guess nothing broken. A couple of American girls, graduates of American University, and I decided it might be best to put her matress on the floor. So we moved it. I left it to the girls from there. The Ipswitch, MA girl stayed with the drunk girl stroking her back and covering her up as Aussie heaved and shuddered. Her parents would have been so proud of her. I was. After awhile all was calm and the AU girls went to bed. About 5 to 10 minutes later the Aussie bounced up out of bed and bolted out the slider onto the balcony. The AU girls and I tried to grab her as she went out but she was out. Ipswitch went out and stayed with her. She helped her to the bathroom again and after another hour Aussie came back in picked up her matress and put it back up top. She climbed up and was asleep for the night.
But back to Cu Chi. I was all “war, death and destructioned” out but figured I just couldn’t miss Cu Chi. I am glad I went. Book time is about 2 hours each way but I made it in about 100 minutes. HCMC is huge and the traffic is incessant but scooters move almost constantly despite opposing traffic and red lights. As I was walking this evening it struck me that the flows of traffic in and around traffic circles, the most congested of all, reminded me of The Matrix when they were fighting the sentries in Zion. They all bundled together and just flowed.
Cu Chi is the countryside north of HCMC. It is historically farmland, a place that city dwellers would retreat to for the weekend. Tunnels were created in the 1940s to hide from French during the Indochina War. The tunnels became a place to live for over 1,000 people during the Vietnam War. They consisted of of 250 km of interconnected tunnels with up to 3 levels all below ground.
On the tour we actually squeezed into the tunnels and navigated them for a total of around 30 meters. They had been enlarged a little to allow us big tourists to fit through but they were still tight. The also had some lights in some rooms and at some junctions, but it was pretty dark and scrary in some places. It was a dramatic contrast from the Presidential Palace yesterday. Both places had operational control centers, living quarters etc. The tunnels had bats too! I got a picture of one of the little guys but he kept on squirming so it’s not that great.
Back at the hostel I hid from the heat for a couple of hours. Then I enjoyed another movie. This time it was a Vietnamese movie with English subtitles. Surprisingly I was the only white person there. HCMC is large and much more cosmopolitan than Hanoi. The young Vietnamese I have spoken with and the young Euro travelers seem to like HCMC better. I liked Hanoi.
After the movie. I grabbed a bite at the night market. It was good, but I can’t stop eating. It will be good to be home soon and back to regular eating habits.
Kinda of like Chipotle but with noodles. Pick a noodle, pick a protien, pick something veggies, and pick a sauce. Ba ba ba (or 3 3 3 in English) is the cheap beer here. It goes done easy in the heat.
After food selection they stir fry it
The night food court. Lots of variety.
Ticket to Cu Chi tunnels. 20k admission. If you don’t come with a guide then you pay an additional 70k for a “park ranger” as a guide. Definitely a good idea. I could imagine a tourist by himself lost in 250km of dark tunnels.
Made a wrong turn coming back and saw this in the middle of nowhere. No signs. No idea what it is, but had to stop and snap a picture.
Little lizards in the bathroom.
Cool art in the gift shop
One of the traps
Showing reclamation of UXO for weapons
Our guide
A tapioca snack. Tasted a lot like yucca o ly a lutlit sweeter. You also dipped in a mixture of salt, sugar and crushed peanuts.
I had to take a photo with this bamboo tree
Squirmy
A bamboo spear pit trap
Hospital surgery underground
A model of the tunnels
A mound for snipers
Some tourists. Do I look like this to the Vietnamese?
The absolutely hardest working people in every city. They work tirelessly collecting garbage and cleaning the streets. If they ever unionized Vietnam would be in trouble.
noodle dishes look good! No way would I ever go down that tiny hole leading to the tunnels. Hell no!