Had the best day so far today!
Left the hostel around 8.30 and jumped in a little minibus (thankfully with air conditioning) to take a trip out to Cu Chi, stopping off at what's meant to be the best temple in the SE Asia along the way.
The sheer scale of this city is emmence - it took about 1hr alone just to get out into the outskirts, but it was fascinating as got to see all the districts and the less touristic hot spots (not that it's that touristy here anyway)! It's still mental though, afterall c18m people live here apparently!
After about 2 hours we finally hit the countryside, with lots of paddy fields and water buffalo as far as the eye could see. Sadly, I also got a glimpse into the locals way of living out here - they are desperately poor, and really live very close to the ground. Lots of rather skinny lookking farm animals too, and lots of strays dibs running around the place searching for a morcheau of food.
The tour bus (incidently did I mention it only cost $8 for the day?!?) was full of an interesting bunch of people. I got chatting quite quickly to a couple living in Hanoi, both teachers in international schools. Interestly their take on Vnam was not a positive one, especially having come from China! Next stop - Poland! Apparently they like the cold!! One is Ozy, the other a Yank so what can you say?!!
I also got chatting to a retired American called Raymond! He was absolutely insane, and certainly had lots of interesting stories to tell! A converted buddha, he had visited India for a 6 week trip last year and never looked back. 6 weeks become 20months, and of the places he had been were Nepal, Tibet and Burma! I managed to get lots of travel tips off him for Cambodia so turned out to be very useful.
So first stop - the temple!
The temple itself was incredible, and somewhat colourful, but it was the prayer at midday that really made the experience. Lots of worshippers dressed in varying outfits (depending on status) chanting and singing. It was quite a sight, which I managed to capture on video too :)
We then hopped back on the bus (a welcomed relief as the temp was mid 30's!) and headed for lunch, which was at a little cafe at the side of the road. Not so nice, but cheap and cheerful.
The best bit though came in the afternoon. Cu Chi back in the day was the main town that got supplies thru to Saigon, and had a maze of 1000's of km of tunnels,with lots of the VC/ families living underground too. At first they showed us some of the local made weapons used to kill the US troops (harrowing) then took us down into one on the tunnels! I literally had to crawl through the tunnel (which was only 120m long luckily) trying to keep up with a 5ft2 vietnamese boy whose only spoken words were 'follow me'....as if we were going to go anywhere else!? I emerged covered in dirt, and looking rather hot and bothered - it's bl**dy hot here, so like a furnace in those tunnels. Makes you wonder how the VC did it!
Anyways, I have rabbited on once more (sorry bout that) and the time has run away with me :) Im now going to grab some supplies for tomorrow (cash being one of them!), pack then get an early night ready for my early start.
I def wont have any net access till Friday prob, as will be cruising down the delta for a couple of days visiting all sorts of local floating markets! Overnight stay in a place called Cat Ba (think that's how you spell in).
Hope all is well back home, missing you all...but not the weather!!
love
Cxxx
