Getting up around 7am is just the norm now. An 8 hour bus journey awaited us to Hanoi, Vietnam’s small, elegant capital lying in the heart of the northern delta. The bus journey went quicker than expected but poor Mike was under the weather! Everyone, myself included, has felt a little ill on this trip but that is to be expected with the weather (very claustrophobic at times), traffic fumes and food. The lack of hygiene from the street shops is shocking at times. One of the shops we stopped in will bring me onto my next criticism….the toilets!! There are a lot of Western toilets in the hotel’s we are staying in but often we stop for a toilet stop and the toilets in question are a room with a door and plain concrete on the ground with a hole. Its fair enough for guys but I feel sorry for the girls. Anyways not exactly the greatest thing to speak about on the blog but I guess in Western culture we take a toilet for granted. Two of the guys, Tobian and Mark are leaving the group as our two is a combo tour and they are only par-taking in the first leg of it. We checked into the hotel and went for dinner as a group. Another girl joined our tour for the next leg; she is from Germany and seems really nice. After the meal we had a few pints with the lads and decided to head home as another early start beckoned. The lady’s of the night over here (on motor bikes with their pimp’s) tried to tempt us but we were having none of it!
The following morning we explored the Cu Chi tunnels. 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. A brief video explaining the history of the tunnels was viewed by all of us and after this it was time to see the real thing. 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…well we lived to tell the tale anyway. A Vietnam worker went down one of the original tunnels and only Conor, Pria , Dips and I actually fitted down this particular tunnel! When I went in, I had Dips and the light from my phone to guide us. It was so cramped and we imagined what it must have been like down there for the war. It was very claustrophobic and the heat was getting to us. Bats were all around the tunnel. I took a wrong turn at one point and a Bat flew into my face. I felt like Bruce Wayne but I don’t think that I will don the Bat Suit just yet!
After this mini adventure, our tour guide (who was very hyper-active) showed us some of the “bobby “traps that were used during the war. These traps were well camouflaged at the time and were often covered by grass or bamboos. Next up was the shooting range were some of us got to fire an assault rifle. Mark and Tobian from our group were like kids on Christmas day such was there excitement about using a gun! Conor and Mike joined me as we bought a few bullets for an M16. I went first, I got a bit caught up in the moment and fired 3 bullets in one go. The power of the gun was amazing and I felt like a war hero for a few minutes. I couldn’t tell you what I hit but I was dead proud….although I still want the Bazooka!! Our tour guide gave us a taste of rice wine which contains 40% alcohol….it was like potcheen! She led us to the Westernized tunnels and most of the group went in. They were a lot larger than the original one we went in so I opted out. Conor went on a little tour of his own and got lost…or so we presumed. In fact he managed to get out a completely different way to the rest of us. The tour guide went looking for him but he was fine.
Overall it was cool to learn some of the history of the war and have fun looking at the tunnels, booby traps and of course firing an assault rifle.
Later that day we said our goodbyes to Mark and Tobian. We might be meeting up with Mark again when we get back to Bangkok. Another girl called Steph from Germany has since joined us and seems cool. We boarded our first ever Sleeper train and luckily we were in first class. The rooms contain 4 beds, aligned in bunk bed like fashion. Its a tight squeeze! We had a tv and chilled listening to music and drinking vodka and coke to help us sleep.
PS I can’t sleep on moving vehicles,
Gary
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