SE Asia Day 8

January 31st, 2009
Today we woke-up with plans to explore Saigon! We decided to only spend on day here, the cities in Vietnam are so busy and dirty that it’s really all you can take. We hired a car to bring us to the Cu Chi Tunnels, 20 miles north of town. The Cu Chi tunnels are famous as the heart of the Viet Cong resistance against the US and the South Vietnamese Government. The tunnels were used by the North Army and the Cu Chi villagers to kill and trap the opposition, mainly Americans. The first things we saw upon arriving was a documentary glorifying the killing of the American Invaders…..#1 American Killer Hero…is what the video called the 16 year old female village that killed 11 Americans. It’s hard to watch as you can imagine all the 18 year old Americans who were sent to fight here and the died or were mortally wounded by the terrible traps the Viet Cong set up. Along the tour we saw all the terrible traps with rusty spikes meant to capture the opposition and an abandoned tank sitting in the middle of nowhere. We were even able to walk through a small section of the tunnels themselves. It was freaky; small, dark and claustrophobic. I could not imagine living in them as many of the Viet Cong did. Best transition for the terrors of the tunnels…firing an AK47 or an M60. That’s right, there is a stop on the tour where you can pay a dollar, grab a gun and fire. It’s every 12 year old boys dream! And of course seeing all the torture and killing of war, we worked up an appetite, so we grabbed some very good food at the restaurant by the tunnels. Meals generally consist of spring rolls, friend rice or noodles with chicken or beef, pho and then fresh fruit for dessert. I love it, but if you don’t like Asian you’d be screwed.

After arriving back in Saigon and hit up the open market. You can buy anything in this market. For example I bought a Gucci wallet, Adidas flip flops, 2 t-shirts and a Rolex for $43! All fake…but convincingly so. The sales ladies are very aggressive; to the point of grabbing your arm when you try to walk away. After an exhausting day we showered and headed out for first dinner J….drinks and spring rolls. The place was unremarkable but Kevin did buy a photocopied, yet bound and genuine looking, Lonely Planet Thailand book for $8 for a street vendor. Danny bought two books about Cambodia for 1200 dong, roughly $6. We then took motorbike taxis to second dinner…this was one of the best experiences of our trip! We were all riding bitch on the back of a bike zooming…quickly…dodging other bikes and cars by inches. I think the best part of the ride is the danger and the hope that you won’t run into anything. I’m sure the few beers we had had contributed to the fun of it, but we decided that that’s the only way to travel in Saigon.

We had second dinner at a “Jamaican” grill where you cook your own food on a grill in the middle of your table. While the only thing Jamaican about the place was the 4 Bob Marley songs playing on repeat on the sounds system. The food was good and the beer was cheap! We had apps and dinner for 5, roughly 4 large beers each and a couple desserts for 400,000 dong….$40!. One the way back we had so much fun on the ride there, we paid 5 more motorbike taxis to take us on a 30 minutes tour of the city. This time they went very slow, so not as exciting, but it was cool to see the city by night.

There are so many motorbikes on the streets of Ho Chi Minh that you feel like you’re at a scooter rally! The main drag of the city has an LCD light tunnel over the street. The lights form white lotus flowers that float on a bead of blue lights that represent water. After the ride we walked to what Dan thought was an Irish pub called Long Pe…he he he. It turned out to be a seedy, jazz bar where old white guys can pick up 13 year olds. Not an awesome end, but still a great night! Hangovers for everyone tomorrow.