Skip to main content

Back in 'Nam




Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City (the locals call it both) was great fun. It was my favourite big city in Vietnam. Mainly because there was so much war history around and of course, more fantastic food!!

Brad and I were in full tourist mode by this stage of our journey. We arrived in Saigon at 7am on the overnight train, dumped our bags at our hotel, grabbed some pho for breakfast and plodded straight off to see what we could find!

We visited the war museum, art gallery, cathedral, the reunification palace and markets galore. Everything was within walking distance of our hotel. The city was bustling and the people were once again so helpful.

Just out of Saigon are the Chu Chi tunnels, used by the Viet Cong in the war to hide from bomb raids. The guide told us, "these tunnels were very small back then, but now they are very big so that even big fat man can fit!"

I took this to mean that they would not be too claustrophobic... I was very, very wrong. Those Vietnamese people must have been TINY if these tunnels have since been modified for tourists.
Before I knew it, I was stuck in a line of hot and sweaty tourists in a TINY tunnel with no ventilation, no  light and no way of getting out - crouched down on my knees. It was the longest 10 minutes/100 metres of my life. People kept pausing to take photos and I just kept thinking, "Move it along! Move it along! Get me out!"

We didn't get any photos inside the tunnel as I was too busy practicing deep breathing and going to my happy place. We did get a photo of the outside entry to the tunnels as you'll see below. The outside was a whole lot wider than the actual tunnel we ended up in, you can see how I was lulled into a false sense of security.

At the site of the tunnels they had a strange tourist attraction. For $10 or so, tourists could shoot an M-16, an AK-47 or basically any of the weapons used in the war. As we crawled through the tunnels and through the village, we could hear gunfire nearby. It was pretty eerie. Our guide sat us down for morning tea right next to the shooting range. Ahhh, so much serenity...

The next day we set off on the Mekong river, destination: Cambodia. We visited the floating villages and markets in the Mekong delta and were then taken to the border on the river. It was a very interesting way to cross a border and now we are in a whole different country!
Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
 
Reunification Palace Gates

Chu Chi Tunnels

Saigon
More Pho
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All roads lead to Rome: Marathon Recap

Let me preface this by saying, before last year, I would never have considered myself a runner. And I still don't! As you know, I have had a lot of time on my hands over the past couple of years and decided to take up running as a "hobby". Yes, I know. This does not sound like the Kath you used to know. But alas, desperate times call for desperate measures. It was after signing up for a 10k at the beginning of 2016 while Brad was doing his marathon, that I realised event running is a LOT more fun than your average Monday night jog. And if the best part about running isn't that you can eat whatever the hell you like, then I don't know what is.  Brad smashes out the Gran Canaria Marathon, 2016 After a couple of half marathons (I know, right? Who even am I anymore?!?!) and another couple of 10ks, I thought, "bugger it. Why not give a marathon a crack?" Brad and I decided to choose a primo location for the marathon, so that we coul...
Post a Comment
Read more

A bucket list reshuffle in the Arctic

Norway. November. Polar night. Why not?  We jumped on the plane after a whirlwind month of visitors whose names ALL began with J. I was tongue tied for an entire month. Special mention to Jojo, Judy, Joe and also my friend Julie who took us on an impromptu tour of the island. The weather was about -5 degrees celsius when we got off the plane in Oslo, extreme layering took place immediately, followed by a long silence between Brad, Jojo and I. I am pretty sure we were all thinking the same thing, "why on EARTH would we come to Norway in winter...by choice?!". ...No one said a word until we made it to the warmth of our airbnb... A day of museum visiting, reindeer meat sampling, Norwegian salmon eating, ridiculously expensive beer drinking and early sunset photography lay ahead of us. One visit to the Fram museum in Oslo and naturally, being an ENFP personality, I now want to become a polar explorer. Cute sled dogs, open seas, northern...
1 comment
Read more

SOMOS DE PRIMERA!

First of all, there was the BIGGEST of BIG news on Gran Canaria this month! Well, apart from this of course: http://thecanarynews.com/bus-crashes-into-gran-canaria-airport/ In the middle of June, Michael and I were beginning to worry that civil war had broken out on the island, when all we could hear were loud explosions, screaming and car horns outside. The local Las Palmas "football" team has moved into the Spanish Football League's first division (La Liga) for the first time in 13 years after winning against Zaragoza 2-0 in Gran Canaria. This is a big win for Las Palmas, who came close last year but were disqualified thanks to some overly keen pitch invaders. As the professional bandwagon jumper that I am, I will be keeping a close (ish) eye on their progress. Check out the FEROCIOUS mascot for UD Las Palmas: (HAHAHAHAHA!) Somos de Primera! The team toured the city on buses signing autographs... Annnnyway, enough of this chit chat about "football".  We have b...
Post a Comment
Read more