Ho Chi Minh

Day 2

Cu Chi Tunnel was our first stop that morning. Cu chi Tunnel according to wikipedia is an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City for the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations in 1968. The tunnels were used as hiding spots during combat and serves as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon for the guerrilla fighters.

To estimate how small the entrance was....

my size 11 feet.. crazy...this section was made bigger for tourist to experience the tunnel. me and mum went down thinking it would be HUGE to walk around but we were so wrong. After the few steps down, the tunnel was 0.5m wide perhaps? It was dark, stuffy, eerie. I could only duck walk a bit and then crawl through the whole tunnel. Its really hard to imagine how the Viet Cong managed to stay down there for more than 3 months at times..without any sunlight. worst thing is, we only experienced the first level of the tunnel. there were 3 levels in total like the map.. how to get down there and survive.. *faint* after surviving the 30metre tunnel which was sufficient to experience, we saw display of past booby traps, how they were made underground etc. Before leaving, we ate steam tapioca with sugar/salt and tea. Accordingly, that was the main source of food.
lunch was nextafter that lacquer factorylots of touring and sight seeing that day. War Remnants Museum was next. It exhibits mainly on the American phase of the Vietnam War. inside the museum was graphic photograph which were heart breaking, sad and dark. During the Vietnam War, the US sprayed 77,000.000 litres of chemical defoliants in South Vietnam. Agent Orange as it turns out caused cancer, birth defects. 400,00 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children were born with birth defects. Those photograph tells the story on how Vietnam people suffer during the war thanks to the US. Due to their insecurity that communism MIGHT conquer the world, they 'helped' south vietnam by bombing them, torturing them, at the end nothing beneficial. losing the battle. It was a sad sad moment inside the museum. At this point, I cant think of any reason why those US who fought for Vietnam are heroes.. and why people should honor them. and why are US so proud, in reality they did NOTHING for the country and the people. NOTHING.on a brighter note, we continue our sight seeing journey with the Notre Dame de Saigonand the post office left behind by the French which is still in used 365 days.after a full day of sight seeing and touring, we were all smelly and sticky.. so back to the hotel for a shower and short rest.. and next is food time again!
yummy yummy.. this dinner cost a BOMB! it was over 4 million DONG.. XD but worth every penny.. haha