THis morning we took a bus tour out to the Cu Chi tunnels. It was about an hour away, but we first stopped at a factory where they make all sorts of lacquered things with eggshell and/ or mother of pearl. The things were beautiful, and the money from them goes to help the families/people affected by Agent Orange. The workers that make the items are actually people who are disabled in some way as a result of birth defects from their parents being in the war and having been exposed to agent orange.
When we go to the Cu Chi Tunnels, another guide told us about the history of the tunnels (which predate the Vietnam war...) and how they were built. We watched a video on the guerrilla fighters and how they managed to escape their enemies... mainly the U.S. soldiers. From there we first went down a path to see a hidden entrance to the tunnels. We were invited to climb in, only Julia, I, and one other guy did it. I didn't think I was going to fit (!!) But the gut went first and he's bigger than me... so then I tried. Didn't have much problem getting in.... well, sorta. but getting back out I had to lift my arms above my head to get out because my shoulders are too wide to just stand back up... ridiculously small. They said that was one way the tunnels worked -- the American soldiers were too big to get in and move around, and even if they could get in, there were traps for them. It was really interesting to see how they disguised things and how they could get in and get away without people knowing. We got to crawl through part of the tunnels, we only went 30m, but you can go up to 100m... actually having to get down and crawl through on the longer one. They've been widened a bit for tourists, and they're still REALLY small. Before they were only 30cm wide by 70-90cm tall, some even smaller.
They explained about what the Cu CHi fighters wore, including the Ho Chi Minh sandals made from rubber. Sometimes when people, women in particular would come in to Saigon, their feet would be check to see if they had the marks from the sandals, and then could be discovered.
From there we took the bus back into HCMC and the bus dropped Julia & I and one other person off at the war remnants museum. The museum goes through several rooms/areas discussing different parts of the war, but mostly showing pictures with captions and examples of weapons used. Really somber and sad, but definitely worth seeing.
From there we walked to the market to find some dinner and look around. This is after trying to walk... which includes crossing streets. I have explained about how crazy the traffic is here before, but really, it's crazy. Even though they have traffic lights and cross walks... that doesn't mean traffic stops, and there are no walk signs. so you literally have to just walk out in front of traffic, move slowly, and stare down all the millions of moto riders and few cars. Every time we have to cross the street we dread it... but luckily, that's how life here is and so the drivers know to watch for people crossing. We try to wait for locals to walk out in front of us, but there seems to be a lack of people crossing the street, OR, they cross at times to us that seem like complete and utter lunacy!
ANyway, we leave in the morning for Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. Switching to our 4th currency of the trip. (Oh yeah, I don't think I ever mentioned that while in Laos, you could pay in USD$, Baht, or Kip) Very confusing. Off of the Vietbnam Dong, and on to the Riel!
