Ho Chi Minh City is a sprawling Asian city covering some former marshland, lots of colonial architecture and more churches than anywhere else we have seen on our trip so far. We ended up spending more time here than we thought we would. It was a good jumping off point for some day trips, including the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was also a good place for us to search for a bootlegged "the Wire" DVD set, seasons 1-5. No success. However we were able to get Cambodian Visas and Indonesian Visas in a 24 hour time period. We also spent two days on a motorbike mapping the city for Vegetarian Restaurants. We found over 30. We stayed in a backpacker ghetto on Pham Ngu Lao, which is Kara's new favorite word. It's kind of a seedy city with power outages, sections that flood during the full moon, and lots of visible prostitution.
Ancester worship time, we think. Many people burn offerings in the late afternoon right outside of their shops or on the street. We saw lots of shops selling fake hundred dollar bills in Hanoi; now we know they aren't to play Monopoly with.
A vast network comprised of over 200 kilometers of tunnels. They are located 70 kilometers North of HCMC. Unlike the Vinh Moc tunnels of the North, the older Cu Chi Tunnels were much smaller (average height 1.5 meters) and mainly planned for military purposes. As many as 5,000 people at a time hid out for up to three months in these crawl spaces. It was a base of resistance for both the French and American wars and was severly bombed on account of this. When bombing didn't work, American troops tried to flush out the NVA in hand to hand combat but were met with booby traps and a vast maze of which they were unfamiliar. Some of these booby traps were quite brutal and focused on impaling soldier with metal spikes by various means.
Side note, this 70 kilometer ride took us approximately 3 hours to find. Thirty minutes of that was through the rain on a motorbike. We arrived at the museum 45 minutes before it closed. We still got a tour.
Side note, this 70 kilometer ride took us approximately 3 hours to find. Thirty minutes of that was through the rain on a motorbike. We arrived at the museum 45 minutes before it closed. We still got a tour.
1-3: Our guide desends into a secret entrance to the Cu Chi Tunnels. He was way too smiley and made jokes throughout the tour. This weirded us out, but is not uncommon while visiting war ravaged areas of Vietnam. In this series of photos, he jumped into the hole and demanded that Kara take a picture of him as he went up and down through the small portal.
Booby trap. Guide: "Door [See-saw] covers spikes, cover door with anything, soldier steps on door, what you think happen?"
After Cu Chi we spent the rest of our time on our previously mentioned vegetarian restaurant scavenger hunt as well as taking some time to explore the city.
Typical street in HCMC. Max was the courageous driver. Kara was the courageous passenger.
More glimpses of Ho Chi Minh City:
Off to the Mekong Delta and into Cambodia....
Kara and Maximilian
2 comments:
Be careful on those motorbikes! Ahhhhh - you guys kill me with all of these photos on th bikes! Keep both hands on that bike! You scare me! ....... ok some of the photos from the bike ARE really cool. Be safe. I like the creepy shots of the guide going into the hole! His excited expression reminds me of a great photo I show my kids of a lady giving a tour of ground zero. She is grinning and holding a book that says "terror" in all caps!
Hey You Two!
This blog is rad! It is such fun to get word through the grapevine--uh, gina b--that you're up to new tricks. I am very moved by all this. Sometimes, I feel so sad for the people and nervous for you. Yes, you are going over old war-ground. And yes, there are fake smiles often. What can we say that can refute the losses we generated? Aye me! What a thing to consider over and over day by day. You are going to some sweet places too, right? Places where people laugh? Is there any singing over there? Not enough here yet, certainly!
Smooches, Mommy.
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