June
12, Tuesday
The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped achieve ultimate military success.”
The drive from Saigon to the tunnels go from a freeway, to a regular road, to narrower and narrower roads until it is too narrow for two cars to meet.
“The 75-mile (121 km)-long complex of tunnels at Củ Chi has been preserved by the government of Vietnam, and turned into a war memorial park. The tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and visitors are invited to crawl around in the safer parts of the tunnel system. Some tunnels have been made larger to accommodate the larger size of Western tourists, while low-power lights have been installed in several of them to make traveling through them easier and booby traps have been clearly marked. Underground conference rooms where campaigns such as the Tết Offensivewere planned in 1968 have been restored, and visitors may enjoy a simple meal of food that Viet Congfighters would have eaten.”
A map of the area showing all of the connected tunnels used by the Viet Cong.
Sample booby traps used by the Viet Cong
Pretty scary stuff
And the openings to the tunnels were well camouflaged. Check this one out after Violet and kicked away the leaves hiding the wooden cover.
Now that is so small, you wouldn't think anyone would be able to get through it, but our local guide, Karsten, John and Mike all gave it a try.
Some of the openings are in termite hills
A walk along the trails of the Cu Chi Tunnels area
One of the other openings to the tunnels. Again very small; you need to crouch down completely to get in there.
In this termite hill there is an "air hole" to provide ventilation in the tunnels
A very long and fat centipede. They were all over the trails.
An American tank left behind
Ready, Aim, FIRE ! A bit of levity goes a long way on some of these sites.
More booby traps
All had made and used in all sorts of areas.
Nearby there was an area where a lady demonstrated how to make paper thin rice crepes; the ones they use to make vietnamese spring rolls.
So thin they are transparent
And we got a demonstration of how they ground the rice to make the flour.
An area where they showed us how they used old rubber tires to make sandals
The tunnels were narrow and low and you had to crouch to get through them. I had my head lamp to light my way through the dark areas. As soon as I spotted daylight however, I branched off and came back out. Some of the others kept going a bit further.
When the tour was over, we got back on the bus, very tired and ready to get back to the hotel. Our guide however, someone from the local Intrepid Office, had other ideas. He insisted on stopping to visit a local family, and we felt like we were intruding on them. Then he wanted to stop at a craft market so we could buy souvenirs. Thankfully he changed his mind; he could probably tell by our comments to each other that we were NOT interested. He was very strange and kept hinting at the fact that we, as tourists, had a responsibility to finance local people. The bus driver got a speeding ticket (or some other type of ticket) from the police and he got us to tip him to cover the ticket ! We could tell by Scott’s expression when we got back to the hotel that this was NOT common practice for Intrepid.
The house we stopped at, nice and newly constructed.
Our drive back to the city
Examples of the narrow houses in Vietnam
Everyone travels by motorcycle, and they carry their packages with them.
The Opera House
The Post Office, designed by Gustave Eiffel !
Decoration above the entrance to the Post Office
Inside the Post Office
Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame Cathedral
Views of the downtown area
“Reunification Palace (Vietnamese: Dinh Thống Nhất) formerly known as Independence Palace built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.”
The tank that crashed the gates !
We continue our ride through the streets and lanes
Arriving at the War Remnants Museum
We then go to the War Remnants Museum; a very difficult visit.
Tanks and helicopters left during the war
Lots of photos by the famous photographer Larry Burrows.Life Magazine ran his exposé on the Vietnam War in January 1963.He became the photographer by which others measured themselves.“I will do what is required to show what is happening”.I made it almost all the way through the museum, but the photos finally became too much for me and I left the building crying, to wait outside for the others.
This was the last stop on our pedi-cab ride. From there, the drivers pedaled us back to our hotel. I gave my driver a really good tip for the great afternoon.
A street with very, very, very tall trees
Arriving back at our hotel after an extremely long day.
Today we start off early and head out to the Chu Chi
Tunnels, outside of Saigon.
“The tunnels of
Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi
district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam,
and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the
country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns
during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's
base of operations for the Tết Offensive
in 1968.The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped achieve ultimate military success.”
The drive from Saigon to the tunnels go from a freeway, to a regular road, to narrower and narrower roads until it is too narrow for two cars to meet.
“The 75-mile (121 km)-long complex of tunnels at Củ Chi has been preserved by the government of Vietnam, and turned into a war memorial park. The tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and visitors are invited to crawl around in the safer parts of the tunnel system. Some tunnels have been made larger to accommodate the larger size of Western tourists, while low-power lights have been installed in several of them to make traveling through them easier and booby traps have been clearly marked. Underground conference rooms where campaigns such as the Tết Offensivewere planned in 1968 have been restored, and visitors may enjoy a simple meal of food that Viet Congfighters would have eaten.”
A map of the area showing all of the connected tunnels used by the Viet Cong.
Sample booby traps used by the Viet Cong
Pretty scary stuff
And the openings to the tunnels were well camouflaged. Check this one out after Violet and kicked away the leaves hiding the wooden cover.
Now that is so small, you wouldn't think anyone would be able to get through it, but our local guide, Karsten, John and Mike all gave it a try.
Some of the openings are in termite hills
A walk along the trails of the Cu Chi Tunnels area
One of the other openings to the tunnels. Again very small; you need to crouch down completely to get in there.
An American tank left behind
Ready, Aim, FIRE ! A bit of levity goes a long way on some of these sites.
More booby traps
All had made and used in all sorts of areas.
One of the bunkers which has been opened and covered with a thatched roof so tourists can come through.
There is a firing range on the grounds of Cu Chi Tunnels and some of the guys gave it a try.
So thin they are transparent
And we got a demonstration of how they ground the rice to make the flour.
An area where they showed us how they used old rubber tires to make sandals
From giant size to tiny baby size
We then had the opportunity to go down into the tunnels; so down I went !
I make my way out of the tunnels !
It rained while we were
visiting. I was OK since I had an
umbrella, but the trails became very muddy.
Our drive back to the city
Examples of the narrow houses in Vietnam
Everyone travels by motorcycle, and they carry their packages with them.
When we get back to the
city, we all get to go on a pedi-cab ride in the downtown area and do some more
sight-seeing.
Getting ready for our Pedi-cab ride through the city streets
The Post Office, designed by Gustave Eiffel !
Decoration above the entrance to the Post Office
Inside the Post Office
Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame Cathedral
Views of the downtown area
“Reunification Palace (Vietnamese: Dinh Thống Nhất) formerly known as Independence Palace built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.”
The tank that crashed the gates !
We continue our ride through the streets and lanes
Arriving at the War Remnants Museum
We then go to the War Remnants Museum; a very difficult visit.
Tanks and helicopters left during the war
Lots of photos by the famous photographer Larry Burrows.Life Magazine ran his exposé on the Vietnam War in January 1963.He became the photographer by which others measured themselves.“I will do what is required to show what is happening”.I made it almost all the way through the museum, but the photos finally became too much for me and I left the building crying, to wait outside for the others.
This was the last stop on our pedi-cab ride. From there, the drivers pedaled us back to our hotel. I gave my driver a really good tip for the great afternoon.
A street with very, very, very tall trees
Arriving back at our hotel after an extremely long day.
Scott was taking us for
a walk back to the Market area for dinner, but I was much too tired to do any
more walking today. Despite having sat
in a pedi-cab for short periods of time, I had been on my feet all day and I
was tired. Lindsey and I opted to stay
near the hotel and find a restaurant nearby.
We ended up at the ALLEZ BOO and still wandered around the nearby streets looking for books to purchase.
We ended up at the ALLEZ BOO and still wandered around the nearby streets looking for books to purchase.
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