Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

After our arrival in Saigon we needed to get clearance from the immigration which was surprisingly easy, it just took a bit of time. On exiting the airport we were once again surprised by the organisation to get to the city. We checked in to our hostel and headed out directly again to grab some food. But as it was already after 11 there weren't too many choices left. We just went for a portion of Vietnamese spring rolls and beef noodles before going to bed in our super clean hostel.
The next day we started early with an exploration tour into the city. First we went to the War Remnants Museum which offers exhibitions on the Vietnam War (obviously here named "American War"). Two floors are solely reserved for the war crimes committed by the US by distributing immense amounts of bombs and chemicals all over Vietnam. Other spots we visited included the Independence Palace (with the famous tank that ended the war), Opera House and Notre Dame Cathedral. Foodwise we tried the famous noodle soup Pho and some street food baguettes. In the evening we took a stroll along the riverfront and visited the Bitxeco Towers.
For the next day we wanted to join a tour to the nearby Cu Chi Tunnels that were used during the war to hide from the US troops. They also served as living quarters, storage and shooting bunkers. Overall they stretched over three floors and a total of more than 130km. There are two areas accessible to the public, one is more for the tourists and were build just for the entertainment... As we didn't get a spot on the tour we did it by ourselves using public transportation. This also allowed us to go to Ben Duoc, the original and less touristy spot. Crawling through the tiny tunnels was very challenging. The tunnel systems led almost all the way to some US bases. This showed us pretty well how the Vietnamese were able to withstand for almost 10 years the US efforts to 'free' the country...

From Saigon we took the night bus to Da lat.Read more