Last morning in Ho Chi Mihn City. We had booked a trip to the the Cu Chi tunnels so early breakfast and pick up from the hotel at 8:45 which also meant leaving our nice room. But we have fully enjoyed it and as much as we like occasional luxury hotels very often fell a bit sterile after a few days. You simple don't interact with the other guests in the same way as on hostels. For whatever reason.
Anyway, the half day trip started with a pick up by Jackie - Vietnamese guy - our guide for the next hours. Then another pick up with the mini bus before spending almost two hours trying to make it out of crazy HCMC traffic. Our first stop was a lacquer ware factory/souvenir outlet. Not really our thing. It was a short stop though so we quickly continued towards the cu chi tunnels and the surrounding area with Jackie keeping us informed about the war, his participation, life in prison camps and things that were worse. It takes a bit of mental energy to go to places like this and cu chi tunnels are not exception.
We made it to the bus parking lot and before we could leave the minibus there was the usual chaos of buses going back and forward. Eventually we made it to the entrance and had a really good trip with Jackie taking us through all the details of Vietcong, the tunnels, hidden traps designed to injure or kill the enemy in the worst imaginable ways and so on. And we also got the chance to see 45 year old bomb craters - left overs from the B52 bombing of the area.
The highlight was of course the option to crawl through a slightly improved section of 300 meters of tunnel, now dug bigger to allow fat tourist to crawl through it. Of the almost 200 kilometres of tunnels from the war this is officially all that remains today. It was hot, humid and crazy to image that people lived underground for so many years during the war, that it is all dug by hand and that fighting has taken place down there. What a nightmare. We made it to the end completely drenched in sweat, legs lightly shaking from being in an uncomfortable position for a little more than 15 minutes.
After a short rest we made it back to HCMC, were dropped off near our hotel, had some late lunch - sushi again - and then went back to pick up our bags and ask for bus connection to Can Tho. We guess they don't get the question about local transportation very often at Pullman but after a while we were on our way in a taxi to the bus office, then by mini bus to the bus terminal and at 6 PM our bus for Can Tho left.
The drive was the usual style of overtaking to right or left side depending on space and the bus drivers mood. We had one stop on the way with enough time for a cup of coffee and just after 9 PM we were at the bus terminal in Can Tho trying to get a local taxi driver to take us the last few kilometres to our home stay. We made it there, were greeted by the family who had the place including a nice cold beer for welcome drinks. The option of getting up at 5 AM for the night market seems a little too much for us so we'll just explore the town on our own tomorrow whenever we feel like it. Time for a good nights sleep first.
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| Check out from Pullman hotel |
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| Laquer-ware factory |
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| Our guide - Jackie the survivor |
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| At the Cu Chi tunnels |
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| A trap |
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| Tunnel exit |
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| Old US tank |
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| A selection of traps |
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| B-52 bomb crater |
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| Inside the narrow tunnels |
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| Underground kitchen |
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| Peaceful sushi for lunch |
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| Found the right bus for Can Tho |
