Cu Chi Tunnels and Ho Chi Minh City

Back from Ben Tre, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, which would also be our last destination in Vietnam.
We decided to start a tradition that every time we have to part ways, Vanessa and I would eat pizza (like the last evening in Hong Kong).
So we went to a pizza place that got recommended a lot and it was actually really delicious.

One morning, we also went to the Cu Chi Tunnels.
A little bit of history:
During the Vietnam War (or how vietnamese call it; the American War), the americans were bombing Vietnam during the day. Which meant during the day, the people would hide underground (Cu Chi Tunnels).
The tunnels have three levels. 1st one is three meters, second 5 and the last one about 12 meters.
The tunnels were made very small so that the big americans can't enter. If they did, they would get stuck and the vietnamese would release venomous snakes to kill the soldiers.
If the americans were to put gas in the tunnels, the people could flee to other sections, as some tunnels had water chambers (water will stop the gas).

During the day, the vietnamese had to hide in third level, with almost no light, no oxygen, high humidity and heat. Many people died of heart attacks/failure.
They still endured all of that because they knew someday, they would be "in paradise".
This lasted for 10 years.

For our entertainment, they made the tunnels 45 percent bigger, so that we can also crawl like back in the days. Obviously, only the first level is available and even there, the big danish guys in front of me had problems. Me, not so much, but if it wasn't my size, the heat and humidity took my energy away.
I cannot imagine how it was in the third level, laying there the whole day.

They also showed us some traps and some termite hills that were actually disguised breathing holes for the tunnels.

Overall, very bleak and very interesting tour.

We were back at two pm and we explored the city some more.
What we mainly did was shopping, going to the post office (big building) and going to the cafe apartment.
Some nice last days, but then unfortunately, Vanessa had to say goodbye. She went to Hong Kong and I went to district 4, spending two more night in a hostel I got recommended by somebody some months ago that I have long forgotten.

The last two nights were good, meeting new people from the hostel (that turned out to be one of the best hostels I had in Vietnam), going out for a bit and organizing some stuff for my trip to Cambodia.

And then it was already time to say goodbye to Vietnam.

Wow!Les mer