Ho Chi Minh CIty Vietnam - Friday, February 26

So two days between China and Vietnam was certainly not enough to help recharge but I would make it work. I knew that I had a couple of trips planned but I also knew that in the 5 days I would be in Ho Chi Minh City I would be able to find some down time.


We started our day by clearing customs and attending our diplomatic briefing which is pretty par for the course at this point. We learned to be cautious while crossing the street because of the mass amounts of people who would be on motorcycles/bikes and scooters we were. 8 million people live in Ho Chi Minh City and there are 4 million of these motorbikes.

After the typical arrival to port morning I had to meet up with my group who was going to the Cu Chi Tunnels. I was a trip leader for this trip and we would head out on to the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City to get there.  The Cu Chi Tunnels area 220 km network of underground tunnels that were created and used by the Viet Cong forces duringwars against both the French and Americans.  From the mid-1940's on the tunnels were used as a base from which the Viet Congcould launch stategic attacks and then seemingly disappear into thin air.

I actually chose the one Cu Chi Tunnel trip that included lunch; because you know how important food is to me!! It was a delicious Vietnamese meal that included Morningstar sautéed in garlic and this was amazing. I am not sure if we could get this in the states but it was a green vegetable kind of a mix between a green onion and the green part of bok choy. I ate it again for dinner so you will see a pic from that experience!

I did not know much about this section of Vietnam prior to this day but I certain learned a lot this day. When the Enemy (Americans) were trying to take over the town of Cu Chi during the Vietnam (American) War in order to survive the people of this town built an intricate tunnel system that ran below the town for both survival and defense. We saw a quick movie when we arrived and learned about the tunnels, the way people were trained to defend themselves even the women because they could fit in these tunnels (some only 2 ft wide) more so then the men and how the Enemy was all around them.

This is a picture of the guide we had going into one of the original tunnels that were created:

It was a challenging place to be because we were seen as the enemy but it was a reality for these people and they did what they needed to do to defend themselves. It was also hard because to me (and others disagreed) it seemed as though they built an amusement park type feel around a tragic event. There were opportunities to crawl through the tunnels take pictures on tanks, posing with mannequins holding guns and building bombs and shooting AK47s. I did crawl through the tunnel that had been enlarged for Western tourists who visited to get a feel for how this environment was for them. I did not know if I would crawl through but was supported and encouraged by the students I was with, so I did. Unfortunately I went in squatting instead of crawling and it became a lot more physically demanding then I anticipated. I was not bothered by the space as far as claustrophobia as others did it was just that I had gone in a way that was not comfortable and I needed to a quick out. Luckily there were exits throughout so I did not need to crawl all the way.
Here is the back of me:

After we went through this tunnel people had the chance to shoot guns, I did not partake in this but some of the students did. I do think that this was the most expensive thing I came across in Vietnam; it was $15 US dollars to shoot the guns and have a certain amount of rounds (I did not retain how many but I know it only took them a couple of minutes to go through it). Most of the meals we ate were under $5 and in general things here were really inexpensive compared to what we are paying in the States. I did not end up taking a lot of pictures this day because there were things I just did not feel right photographing.

After the Cu Chi Tunnels we traveled back to the ship where I had enough time to clean up and then head out to meet some other folks for dinner at a restaurant called Lemongrass. This restaurant is a favorite of a friend, Becca, and I was excited to meet up with everyone for a big Vietnamese meal. And Cindy and I split a 5 course $11 meal that included Morningstar:

After dinner we headed back to the ship.