Trip Report: Day 3 Cu Chi Tunnel & Saigon
On our last day in Vietnam, we went on a tour to Cu Chi tunnel which is located about 70km away from Saigon. The transport cost 4 usd; we would have to pay the entrance fees of 70,000 dong when we reached the tunnel.
My bus only had 11 people and all were Asians. Our guide's English was rudimentary at best and I gave up trying to comprehend what he was saying. Meanwhile the Caucasians on the other bus had a better guide who spoke good English.
The tunnel that our guide brought us to was supposedly the more authentic one; there was the other one which had been widened for the tourists to go through. Before we went in to view the exhibits, we watched a Vietnamese propaganda film which extolled the heroic deeds of the Vietnamese people and vilified the foreign aggressors.
The management placed mannequins in VC uniforms and tourists like us could take photos with them. There were also huts which showed us how the VC used to live during the war time. The booby traps that VC set up were menacing; it would be better off dead than be caught in those nasty traps.
There were also a shooting range when one could fire weapon at 2 sgd per round. Of course we didn't bother to try; all of us had been through live firing at least once. The Korean-American boys in our tour seemed excited about shooting but I don't think they would be so excited if they ever got enlisted.
The highlight of the trip was obviously going through the actual tunnel. It was damp and musty inside and we could only crouch down and crawl through a short section which was probably about 50m. There were dim lights at irregular intervals and parts of it which were pitch dark. It was hard to imagine that there were people who lived inside there for months during the war.
There was this Korean uncle in our group whom we fondly nicknamed 大叔. We could tell that he almost hyperventilated inside the tunnel when he emerged from the tunnel panting and drenched with sweat. After that we were treated to some tea and tapioca which were food for the people during that period of time.
We were very hungry when we reached Saigon at about 2pm. Our venue for lunch was the Pho 24 at Pham Ngu Lao. I got a set meal which came with a big bowl of pho bo (beef rice noodle), a plate of nem (spring rolls), a cup of tea and an ice-cream as dessert. The price was rather steep at 60,000 dong (6 sgd) but we all still had not find the courage to try street food yet.
Realizing that we were running low of dongs, we exchanged another 10 usd each to last our last few hours in Ho Chi Minh City. We finally got the chance to do some shopping when we visited the Ben Thanh Market. Ho Teck managed to find the shirts that he was looking for and his loot was pretty impressive.
Then we past by a shop which sells bags. The owner is a Chinese and able to speak Mandarin and Cantonese. Ho Teck was looking for a sling bag and I decided to get one for myself too. After haggling over the price for quite some time, we finally were able to get a 'North Face' bag for 10 usd each.
The shopowner got us to look after her stall while she went somewhere else to get more bags for us to choose. The whole episode was rather hilarious but in the end it turned out that she made a wasted trip because the bags that we bought were the ones already in the stall.
Ben Thanh Market is one hell of a place which sells almost everything. Shirts, bags, sundries, fruits, etc etc... When the stalls inside the market started to close for the day at about 6pm, a pasar malam started operating in the streets outside it. There were also many food stalls selling live seafood as well.
However we kept our promise and went back to eat at Quan An Ngon, the restaurant that we visited the first day. It was still crowded as usual. All of us tried something different this time and the meal lived up to my expectation. Then we decided to explore the city a bit and took a different route back.
Along the way we past by an interesting place. It is a place that sells fruits and the management arranged the chairs and tables in a way that the customers faced the street. The locals were chatting while people-watching the same time. It was really something which we would not see in Singapore.
We sat down and ordered some fruits. This was our last night in Saigon and we soaked it up with honeydew and dragon fruit like the locals. After that we went for a short walk around the pasar malam. Our stomachs were too full for the seafood which we initially planned although the touts were always trying to get our business.
By then, I would say that all three of us were pretty surprised by the number of pretty girls we had seen in Vietnam. Not that I've been to many places but Saigon is easily among the destinations where I won't mind visit again. HK was bad; KL was worse; I think maybe only Taipei could give Saigon a run for the money.
As we would be leaving early in the morning, we settled our guesthouse bill before we went back to our room. We had a nice chat with the receptionist and learn more about Vietnam through our conversation with her. An ordinary office worker earns roughly about 100-200 usd a month; those with an overseas degree from let say Singapore can command a grand starting pay of 400 usd.
She was interested to know about Singapore as well and we tried to answer her questions. She was particularly interested in an animal in Singapore Zoo which 'is really ugly and lives in the water.' She had seen it on Discovery but failed to catch the name.
Our initial guesses of walrus and sea lion were both wrong; she shook her head when we showed her the images that we googled. In the end the mystery animal turned out to be hippopotamus. She was really amused after we correctly identified the animal and showed her the pictures on the net.
Going back to the room meant that we needed to start packing up for our next destination. Vietnam had been great; food was nice and the sights were interesting. I knew that Cambodia is poorer than Vietnam but didn't really know what to expect. The answer would only be revealed after we cross the border.
My bus only had 11 people and all were Asians. Our guide's English was rudimentary at best and I gave up trying to comprehend what he was saying. Meanwhile the Caucasians on the other bus had a better guide who spoke good English.
The tunnel that our guide brought us to was supposedly the more authentic one; there was the other one which had been widened for the tourists to go through. Before we went in to view the exhibits, we watched a Vietnamese propaganda film which extolled the heroic deeds of the Vietnamese people and vilified the foreign aggressors.
The management placed mannequins in VC uniforms and tourists like us could take photos with them. There were also huts which showed us how the VC used to live during the war time. The booby traps that VC set up were menacing; it would be better off dead than be caught in those nasty traps.
There were also a shooting range when one could fire weapon at 2 sgd per round. Of course we didn't bother to try; all of us had been through live firing at least once. The Korean-American boys in our tour seemed excited about shooting but I don't think they would be so excited if they ever got enlisted.
The highlight of the trip was obviously going through the actual tunnel. It was damp and musty inside and we could only crouch down and crawl through a short section which was probably about 50m. There were dim lights at irregular intervals and parts of it which were pitch dark. It was hard to imagine that there were people who lived inside there for months during the war.
There was this Korean uncle in our group whom we fondly nicknamed 大叔. We could tell that he almost hyperventilated inside the tunnel when he emerged from the tunnel panting and drenched with sweat. After that we were treated to some tea and tapioca which were food for the people during that period of time.
We were very hungry when we reached Saigon at about 2pm. Our venue for lunch was the Pho 24 at Pham Ngu Lao. I got a set meal which came with a big bowl of pho bo (beef rice noodle), a plate of nem (spring rolls), a cup of tea and an ice-cream as dessert. The price was rather steep at 60,000 dong (6 sgd) but we all still had not find the courage to try street food yet.
Realizing that we were running low of dongs, we exchanged another 10 usd each to last our last few hours in Ho Chi Minh City. We finally got the chance to do some shopping when we visited the Ben Thanh Market. Ho Teck managed to find the shirts that he was looking for and his loot was pretty impressive.
Then we past by a shop which sells bags. The owner is a Chinese and able to speak Mandarin and Cantonese. Ho Teck was looking for a sling bag and I decided to get one for myself too. After haggling over the price for quite some time, we finally were able to get a 'North Face' bag for 10 usd each.
The shopowner got us to look after her stall while she went somewhere else to get more bags for us to choose. The whole episode was rather hilarious but in the end it turned out that she made a wasted trip because the bags that we bought were the ones already in the stall.
Ben Thanh Market is one hell of a place which sells almost everything. Shirts, bags, sundries, fruits, etc etc... When the stalls inside the market started to close for the day at about 6pm, a pasar malam started operating in the streets outside it. There were also many food stalls selling live seafood as well.
However we kept our promise and went back to eat at Quan An Ngon, the restaurant that we visited the first day. It was still crowded as usual. All of us tried something different this time and the meal lived up to my expectation. Then we decided to explore the city a bit and took a different route back.
Along the way we past by an interesting place. It is a place that sells fruits and the management arranged the chairs and tables in a way that the customers faced the street. The locals were chatting while people-watching the same time. It was really something which we would not see in Singapore.
We sat down and ordered some fruits. This was our last night in Saigon and we soaked it up with honeydew and dragon fruit like the locals. After that we went for a short walk around the pasar malam. Our stomachs were too full for the seafood which we initially planned although the touts were always trying to get our business.
By then, I would say that all three of us were pretty surprised by the number of pretty girls we had seen in Vietnam. Not that I've been to many places but Saigon is easily among the destinations where I won't mind visit again. HK was bad; KL was worse; I think maybe only Taipei could give Saigon a run for the money.
As we would be leaving early in the morning, we settled our guesthouse bill before we went back to our room. We had a nice chat with the receptionist and learn more about Vietnam through our conversation with her. An ordinary office worker earns roughly about 100-200 usd a month; those with an overseas degree from let say Singapore can command a grand starting pay of 400 usd.
She was interested to know about Singapore as well and we tried to answer her questions. She was particularly interested in an animal in Singapore Zoo which 'is really ugly and lives in the water.' She had seen it on Discovery but failed to catch the name.
Our initial guesses of walrus and sea lion were both wrong; she shook her head when we showed her the images that we googled. In the end the mystery animal turned out to be hippopotamus. She was really amused after we correctly identified the animal and showed her the pictures on the net.
Going back to the room meant that we needed to start packing up for our next destination. Vietnam had been great; food was nice and the sights were interesting. I knew that Cambodia is poorer than Vietnam but didn't really know what to expect. The answer would only be revealed after we cross the border.
posted by shyh jie at 12:12 AM
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