Thursday, April 29, 2010

Next stop, Saigon

Yesterday, we flew to Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon depending on who you talk to) very early in the morning. Our first stop was the Cu Chi Tunnels.

The tunnels were very interesting and used by peasants to aid the Vietcong in the war. We first watched a totally slanted video re: the war. They talked about some of the guerrilla women being american killer heroes and at one point referred to the american soldiers as "dirty little devils." Not slanted at all. I know we invaded their country, but it was still hard to hear it put that way.

These guerrilla fighters dug tunnels and lived in these tunnels. They were easily disguised and they placed land mines and traps throughout the countryside. We could go in thru one of the tunnels but they were very tight quarters. The closest I got was posing for a picture at one of the entry/exit point. They also had on display all of the types of traps used to kill/injure the soldiers along with a disturbing mural depicting soldiers caught in these traps. Aside from all of the displays, there was even an opportunity for target practice. You had to buy the ammo first and then you got to shoot an AK47. I didn't partake since I hated being forced to go to riflery at camp.
I mentioned this earlier, but it's amazing what people carry/transport on their mopeds. I've seen cases of beer, mirrors, piping and other construction materials, pigs, chickens, etc. On the side of the road was a woman selling goldfish, lots of goldfish, in individual bags.

After checking into our hotel, we took a dip in the pool on the roof of our hotel. For dinner, we went to the Temple Club. It's the 2nd floor of a former temple. The food was great and our waiter was such a cutie. About 10 of us went.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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