Cu Chi, Vietnam (just outside Saigon): Today’s dilemma: This hotel is really really nice. The rooms are decorated in the old colonial French style. The telephone even looks like it is from 1930! So, do I get my value by hanging out at the hotel or seeing the city of Saigon? I choose the former. The bathroom is larger than some of the hotel rooms I have been staying in. I got up at 9:00 am, had a coffee and croissant and around 11 I began feeling guilty so I booked a ½ day tour to see the Cu Chi Tunnels. This is an underground village 75 km (46 miles) from Saigon that was a bitter battleground during the Vietnam War. This tunnel system is over 200km (124 miles) in length. I went down in one of them and it seems that they were designed for skinnier people than me. The one I was in was only 20 meters long and was widen to accommodate the “Western” tourist. In one hidden exit hole, I could barely fit my foot (see photos)! We ended the tour with tea and yuca (casaba for your Westerners). I was the only one to really eat it as the others in my group were “pizza eaters”. Great…more yuca for me!
We came back into town during rush hour and saw 9,000,000 people exiting town on their motorcycles. A typical Chinese motorbike here runs for about $300 and a Japanese goes for $1000. The cars on the other hand cost $20,000 USD but they have a 200% luxury tax which means an out the door price of $60,000 USD. Needless to say, not many cars here in Vietnam.
At dinner tonight I went to a local Vietnamese restaurant (Lemon Grass Restaurant) and it knocked my socks off! The manager had to show me how to eat the food however (put noodles on leave, add meat and mint, then dip into sauce to eat). He made the first spring roll for me then it was up to me. I was in heaven and forgot already about last night’s setback (pizza). Being out this late at night (8:30 pm), I was accosted on the way back to the hotel not by taxi cab drivers but by requests for massages. I might be getting cynical in my old age but they didn’t seem too legit to me so I took a pass.
I booked the last of my internal flights (Phnom Phen to Bangkok) and hotels so that means this trip is quickly come to the end. While I will miss the travel but I am looking forward to seeing to my wife.
