Cu Chi Tunnels

Awoke early and repacked, taking out all of our cold weather gear for Japan. Put it all in a duffel bag to leave on the bus until our tour is over in Hanoi.  This will make things a bit easier and lighter. Gathered for breakfast at 6:30 and was on the bus at 7:30 to go meet our bikes. The morning commute was in full swing. Although, it appears that it is always rush hour in Saigon.

The truck with the equipment was parked in front a school and the kids were just darling. After much tweaking and finding helmets, we were off.  I am so glad that we had a couple of days in HCMC to get acclimated to the traffic. Even though we were outside of the big city, the driving pattern is still the same. Not too many rules. Vehicles don't seem to yield as much as they merge together. With all the "salmoning" between lanes and scooters going every which way, we have not seen one accident or any kind of traffic encounter. So we were a bit prepared when we saddled up and got out there in the main stream. Not too long after we started, we were mainly on backroads and things calmed down considerably. This trip will all be on tarmac. What used to be dirt and dusty roads, have now all been paved due to the country being in better financially. A lot of that money is going into their infrastructure. Plus, there is construction all over the city. 

We stopped and took a group photo in the rubber tree forest. First encounter with a live rubber tree. They slash the bark diagonally and it bleeds latex, which is then made into rubber.  From the forest it was an easy ride to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

The Cu Chi Tunnels remain the best-preserved example of a much wider tunnel network that covers significant stretches of Vietnam.As the Viet Cong’s base of operations during the American War, the region was of vital strategic importance. It served as the communication and coordination hub for the Viet Cong, allowing them link up with their North Vietnamese allies.The huge network of tunnels included living quarters, weapons caches, ammunitions and bomb-making factories, makeshift hospitals, command centers and kitchens. They were up to four levels deep, and protected by countless booby traps.

We watched a movie about the Viet Cong Guerilla Warfare and how they beat out the US by not only living below ground but by using their own weapons against them.  They would re-purpose the bombs and make their own ammunition.  They pretty much out witted the US at every turn.

Geoff was one of the few people who could get into one of the entrances to the tunnel system. The entrance that most of us went through has been widened from it's original size to accommodate us Westerners. 

The whole tour took about 2 hours and then it was back in the bus to go to lunch. Lunch was at a lovely restaurant on the river. This was 4 courses and Geoff and I got prawns again instead of the meat dish. We are going to have to try to get something else. We are up to our eyeballs in shrimp! The food was wonderful, again.

We bailed on the War Remnants Museum and went straight back to the hotel. We have a very early start tomorrow. We are on the 6am plane to Da Lat, which means getting up at 4:30am. UGH! Once in Da Lat, we bus to the hotel, change, and get on the bikes for a 35k ride. Today's ride was only about 18k, which was a good thing because it was bloody hot out there. The gps was reading 95 degrees. Not too bad as long as you're moving, but once you stop, you just become a puddle. Thing's will get cooler from here on - we are heading north.

Went to Ngon restaurant for our last Saigon dinner. It came highly recommended by our guide.The restaurant is kind of an indoor/outdoor experience. All the cooking is done outside in the open. The concept being to bring the street food indoors. The ordering was a challenge and the waitress spoke no English, so we winged it! Mussels with fried pancake, steamed snails in lemongrass, and vegetable curry. The vegetable curry was the only thing that looked familiar. The mussels were very tiny and the fried pancake turned out to be like a cracker. Steamed snails were huge but a bit chewy - don't have to order that again. For dessert we had black beans in coconut milk that came in a tall glass with ice (a challenge to eat) and black sticky rice with coconut milk - both were quite yummy.

We were also able to get a few good departing night shots. Not too sad to be leaving Ho Chi Minh City, but glad for the experience. It is shocking at first, but the longer you stay, it sort of grows on you. It will be interesting to see the comparison with Hanoi. 

Next time... Da Lat, the City of Love