Ha Vy Hotel, HCMC, Day 4

A lazy morning as we have a while to wait until we go on our half day tour to the Cu Chi tunnels. We are promised a small tour with a maximum of 8 people, but aren't surprised when 19 turn up.
Trung, our guide, tries to talk the bus through the history of the war in very broken English and the things you can make out are very interesting. Despite two unbelievable rude Australians, who were clearly too cool for the tour they had chosen to go on, everyone listened and paid attention to Trungs first hand account of the horrible time.
We first stop in a factory where victims of agent orange work. Here they use egg she'll to create wonderful works of art. They are really good, but unfortunately too fragile to carry around in our bags.
After that we head to the tunnels. Our first stop is a small hiding hole, just big enough for one person to squeeze into, which acted as a hiding/surprising hole. The Vietnamese basically rigged this whole forest with holes, tunnels and booby traps to catch the Americans.
The booby traps mentioned were brutal. Holes in the floor filled with spikes that would soon mess up anyone unfortunate enough to step on one. Add that the mines that we're planted around the place (it took fifteen years to get rid of them all!) And it was a pretty dangerous place all round. There was a tank on display that got blown up by a mine, which makes you wonder what it did to a human.
There was a shooting range that was extremely loud and extremely expensive, and then we headed to the tunnels. They are long and very small, only eaving enough room to crouch down. At times it gets pretty spooky, especially when I'm laid on my back shuffling down, and it's a relief when I feel the fresh air again as we leave.
After all that and with very sore legs from the crouching, we head back on the ninety minute drive to the hotel. We go out for an unbelievably good curry and go to sleep. We are ready for bed!Read more